President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the unbundling of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
This is according to the Minister of Power, Aliyu Abubakar.
TCN has remained under the ownership and management of the Federal Government since 2013 when the power sector was privatised, and the generation and distribution components were handed over to private investors.
There have been concerted calls by industry stakeholders for the unbundling of TCN into its two key entities, Transmission Service Provider and the System Operator, especially with the frequent collapses the national grid has witnessed recently.
Speaking at the Nextier Power Dialogue in Abuja, Abubakar, when responding to questions during the interactive session confirmed that the process for the unbundling was already at an advanced stage, having received the president’s buy-in and support.
“We are working on that and we have gone very far. In fact, as I speak with you now, I have some documents which were brought to me in that regard this afternoon. I’ve not gone through them because I had to prepare for this meeting.
“But as soon as I leave here I will look at them. Very soon we will separate the two certificates to unbundle the TCN into the two entities. And as we go along, we will further unbundle to probably make them three. But for this one, we have gone very far with it and I don’t want to preempt what was brought to me in terms of recommendation. However, very soon we will do that. We have got the support of Mr. President to that effect,” the minister said.
