By Chidiebere Ugwu
Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, Minister of Power on Thursday told heads of agencies in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) that anyone who posses a threat to the performance of the power sector would be shown the way out.
Adelabu gave the warning at the closing ceremony of a two-day Ministerial Retreat on the Integrated National Electricity Policy and Strategic Implementation Plan: Navigating and Aligning on the Plan to Enhanced Electricity Reliability’ which held in Abuja.
“As they say that a chain is as good as it’s weakest link so if anybody posses a threat to our delivery or performance. Like I said in our earlier meeting, before they show me the way out, we are also going to show the person the way out”.
He noted that the performance of the power ministry is dependent on the private sector hence there must be continuous engagement to find best way to collaborate for the common growth of the industry.
He said that his ministry would be using carrot and stick approach to persuade and encourage Stakeholders to support him as he work towards achieving President Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda, stressing however that where the carrot fails he will not hesitate to wield the big stick to ensure the agenda doesn’t fail.
Recall that Adelabu, at the opening session of the retreat disclosed government plans to restructure the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) into two separate entities.
The TCN, which coordinates the nation’s electricity transmission network, is one of 18 companies that were unbundled from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in April 2004. It was incorporated in November 2005 and issued a transmission licence a year later.
TCN’s licensed activities include electricity transmission, system operation and electricity trading. The company is currently fully owned and operated by the government.
Adelabu said the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) transmission sub-sector has been identified as a critical weak point in the electricity value chain.
“To align with the Electricity Act 2023 and the industry’s demands, it’s time to restructure the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) into two entities: the Independent System Operator (ISO) and the Transmission Service Provider (TSP),” he said.
