Oscarline Onwuemenyi
22 September 2013, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, is set for improved service delivery following its recent engagement of 522 engineers, according to the company’s managing director, Mr. Don Priestmsn.
The new engineers were recruited by the Federal Ministry of Power into the company to bolster its operations and strengthen it in readiness for work under Nigeria’s new power regime that would see private investors running the affairs of the 15 electricity generation and distribution companies unbundled from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN.
Priestman, who heads the team from Manitoba Hydro International – the appointed management contractor for TCN – said the Nigerian power sector would soon experience an incredible boom, given the amount of investment and resources being made by both government and private interests, and that there would be need for thousands of qualified and skilled engineers and technicians to manage the growth.
He said TCN was ready to play its role in the national electricity system to ensure that power supply is improved across the country for both domestic and industrial uses.
Receiving the new engineers, the TCN managing director and chief executive officer had congratulated them “for being a part of a new era in the company,” expressing satisfaction that “TCN is bringing in a crop of skilled young people with the potential to keep the future of the company unfolding as it should”.
He stressed the need for hard work as he noted that TCN had in place an extremely satisfying career path for the new engineers and that the young men would have an exciting career in the organisation.
Director General of National Power Training Institute of Nigeria, NAPTIN, Engr. Reuben Okeke, said they would undergo training for one year before they would be integrated fully in TCN. Three months of this would be spent in NAPTIN training school, while the rest would be spent in the various regions of TCN, where they would acquire practical operational experiences.
According to an official memo from the Federal Ministry of Power, signed by Mr. Ebenezer B. Olowosejeje, Deputy Director, Appointments, Promotions and Discipline, APD, for the Minister of Power, the recruitment exercise cuts across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria, with each zone accounting for 84 candidates and 18 supplementary, totaling 522.
