Nigeria has no free electricity for consumers, says TCN

The proposed electricity stimulus bill by the Nigerian House of Representatives to the Federal Government seems to have suffered a setback following the back and forth by the relevant stakeholders.

Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, Alhaji Usman Mohammed, has denied knowledge of where the information emanated.

Speaker of the House of Representatives had disclosed a palliative that would benefit all electricity consumers during this coronavirus pandemic. The idea is to make extra funds available to households and businesses who would be battling to stay afloat in this trying time.

Some days ago, some principal members of the chamber were locked in a discussion with President Muhammadu Buhari to decide how the payment would be made.

Financial Street had reported that it would cost the Federal Government N120bn for two months if it decides to accede to the stimulus package.

In his reaction to the development in Abuja, Thursday, the TCN boss dismissed the feasibility of the palliative since the government does not own power.

“I don’t know where that information came from. But I can tell you that there is nothing like ‘power is going to be free’ because the Federal Government cannot make power free. The Federal Government does not own the power,” he said.

Mohammed said it would have been possible, if the FG were in control of other chains of electricity, like the generation and distribution, but that the government only had power over the transmission.

He explained, “In the electricity industry, apart from the transmission, which is just the transporter, all the other chains do not belong to the Federal Government. So, I cannot understand how somebody will concoct that information.

“But these are some of the people involved in propaganda who brand information that is very unnecessary, to be honest.”

He further argued that sustainable power supply should be the aim since most parts of the country were on some form of movement restrictions.

“I think, at this stage, what we need to do is to sustainably supply electricity and that is what we are doing,” the TCN boss offered.

On Thursday, some members of the House of Representatives led by the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, met with other members of the joint committee set up for the purpose.