TCN’s Union Apologises to Former Boss for Opposing His Appointment
Senior workers of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) under the auspices of their inhouse union - the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) have written to the immediate past Interim Managing Director (IMD) of the TCN, Mr. Usman Mohammed, apologising for opposing his initial appointment to run the company by the federal government.
In a letter dated January 29, 2018, which was reportedly sent to Mohammed just before his one-year appointment as the IMD of the company ended in February, the unions acknowledged they were naïve about the plans Mohammed had for the company and its workforce.
Signed by Yerima Bukar Hassan, the Branch Secretary of SSAEAC in TCN, the workers explained they didn’t know the IMD would help restore their capacity and confidence to revive TCN which they alleged was ran aground by its former management contractor, Manitoba Hydro International (MHI). According to them, one year of Mohammed’s management of the company had resulted in the workers getting deeply involved in the operations of the TCN, especially taking charge of the installation and expansion works done on the transmission network.
They also the ability of the TCN to cancel the unprofitable fibre optic cable contract it had with some indigenous telecommunication outfits as well as its retrieval of the facility was a bold decision and step Mohammed took in the interest of the company.
To grow the company’s profitability and competence, they noted that the extra ordinary tariff review request the TCN submitted to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) under Mohammed was also a good move, hence, their expression of regret for resisting his appointment in the first place.
Listing some what they said they were able to accomplish with the support of Mohammed in office, the workers said they were able to transmit for the first time in the history of Nigeria’s power sector peak loads of 5,155 megawatts (MW) and 5,222.3MW of electricity respectively on December 8 and 18, 2017.
They also mentioned the development of a transmission expansion and upgrade plan by the company under Mohammed, to enable it identify and track the progress of its network expansion, as well as the reorganisation of TCN’s procurement department and training of its procurement officers to undertake standard procurement of projects in line with international practices.
Mohammed, who was harshly treated by TCN’s workers’ unions when he was appointed by the federal government from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to manage the company for a period of one year, had recently left the TCN following the expiration of his one year term.