07 January 2014, Abuja: Barring any last minutes changes, the federal government will today further its plans to reposition the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) with its formal inauguration of Mr. Ibrahim Dahiru Waziri as the new chairman of the supervisory board, thus bring to an end the almost six months reign of Alhaji Hamman Tukur, who was the pioneer chairman of the board.
Waziri, whose appointment as the chairman of the board was recently disclosed by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), is expected to be inaugurated into the board by the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, in Abuja.
It is, however, not clear if there are further changes in the entire membership of the supervisory board but government sources stated yesterday that the government was bent on infusing realistic professionalism in the management of TCN, hence its decision to change the leadership of its board.
As was disclosed by the sources, the board under Tukur has had various challenges which were mostly fanned by hushed internal wrangling and in some cases, disregard for the minister who is statutorily expected to oversee its supervision of TCN.
An instance that was pointed by the source, was the unwillingness of the board to convene a board meeting several months after its inauguration and for no obvious reasons.
However, the source stated that government expected Waziri who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria and an MBA from the University of Lagos to bring his managerial expertise to bear on the board of TCN.
Currently a non-executive director of First Bank, Waziri was a Managing Partner of Gulf of Guinea Petroleum Consulting Limited, a Nigeria-based consulting firm which offers professional expertise to diverse clients and interest in Nigeria.
He also served as member of the federal government technical committee on expenditure review that advised the government on enhancing value of overhead expenditure and reducing waste in government spending.
Between 2003 and 2009, Waziri was also the Group Executive Director, Corporate Services at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
He has also served as Director Bonny Gas Transport Limited, Deputy Managing Director Nigeria LNG Limited, Executive Director at the Nigeria Gas Company Limited and the Pipeline and Product Marketing Company (PPMC).
Meanwhile, the government, which is also conscious of the need to reduce incessant collapses of Nigeria’s electricity systems especially from the transmission network, has approved the training of 522 engineers recruited as immediate intervention to boost the nation’s transmission by the National Power Training Institute (NAPTIN).
The Director General of NAPTIN), Reuben Okeke, who spoke at the commencement of a retraining programme for the 522 transmission engineers, stressed that though the training programme would be for one year, the engineers would be given an initial two weeks training, after they would be deployed to their places of primary assignment.
Okeke explained that other components of the one-year training programme would be spread out, adding that it was expected to run concurrently in eight training centres of NAPTIN across the country.
Also, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of TCN, Mr. Mack Kast, stated the firm’s urgent need for such skilled workers to boost its operation.
Kast said: “We need to be in a position to evacuate generated power as generated by the generation companies. What people want in this country is a competitive market. We have a 5,000 megawatts installed generation capacity right now in the country. By the time that increases significantly in the future, we will require a robust transmission system. There is a lot of work to be done. We have got to improve the way we do things.”
While addressing the trainees, Kast reminded them of their importance to the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), stressing that the TCN and indeed the sector were willing to provide to them concrete platforms to launch their careers in the power industry. (This Day)
