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The new CEO of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Don Priestman has said that the new management will work closely with the legacy TCN staff, particularly during the transitional month to ensure a seamless takeover from legacy management. He said this at a familiarization meeting convened by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission at the headquarters yesterday. He was accompanied by other senior management staff TCN.
Mr. Priestman presented a diagnostic of TCN, focusing on the inherent manpower levels and skills gap deficit and succession planning. He presented a proposal for steps that should be taken towards full TCN unbundling and ring fencing of Transmission Service Provider (TSP), System Operator (SO) and Market Operator (MO) functions by way of sufficient sustainable TCN revenues and capital budget approvals, staff training, skills development and succession planning and strong enforcement of Market Rules by NERC, to name a few.
The Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act of 2005 requires that TCN be made up of two entities namely System Operations and the Transmission system Provider. Market Operations which is domiciled in System Operations, is also to be ring fenced. Ring fencing refers to separation that translates to financial and operational autonomy. It is believed that the separation of these entities will lead to reduction of bureaucracy and ultimately, enhanced efficiency.
Dr. Sam Amadi – Chairman/CEO of NERC informed Mr. Priestman and his team that the Commission wanted to see an efficient transmission system, and has promised to work closely with TCN to realize this.
Manitoba Hydro International, a company won the contract on April 3 through a bidding process conducted by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). They assumed operational control of the company on 30th July, 2012.
