THE Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has raised alarm over the planned picketing of its headquarters by the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC).

TCN in a statement on Sunday in Abuja by its General Manager, Public  Affairs,  Mrs Ndidi Mbah , described the planned picketing of the organisation  by TUC as ill-motivated.

According to Mbah, there is no industrial  disharmony in the company as speculated  in some sections of the media.

“TUC was ill-informed by the President-General of the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) having lost the support of TCN staff in the misguided bid to use the TCN  branch  to advance selfish interest.’’

She said the patriotic statement of the Managing  Director  of  TCN, Mr Mohammed Usman that DisCos should recapitalize was being challenged by those who are beneficiaries of the liquidity challenges  in the power sector.

“Their principal objective is to change the debate on capitalization of Discos initiated by the managing  director of TCN.

“TCN management believes that TUC, unknown to them, is being used by unpatriotic elements.

“TUC, as a law abiding organisation, is expected to find out why  the  planned  picketing  could not secure the support of TCN staff, NUEE or SSAEAC TCN branch before accepting to lead the picketing of TCN.

“Management  of  TCN  calls  on staff to  remain law-abiding amid the unwarranted provocation by  the  sponsors of the planned ill-motivated  picketing.’’

She said the current management of TCN had successfully expanded the capacity of the grid from 5,000MW, when it took office in Feb 2017, to 8,100MW in Dec 2018.

“It is on record that TCN receives less than 30 per cent of its revenue from the Discos; yet it has been able to attain this unprecedented stride in grid expansion.

“Using in-house capacity, TCN has installed transformers and strung lines with associated transmission system devices in the last two years more than had ever been achieved in the previous 15 years before this administration.

“Unlike before, TCN – using in-house capacity, has prepared projects and secured more than 1.6 billion dollars from multilateral donors.

“This is meant to reinforce the network across the nation to N-1 Reliability standards.’’

She said TCN had also achieved a level of system frequency control never experienced in the nation’s history, which has been commended by West Africa Power Pool (WAPP).

“Current TCN management has been promoting staff more than it had ever done before in its history and we are working assiduously to enhance the company’s revenue base so we can pay better salary.” (NAN)

– May 13, 2019 @ 9:29 GMT |