By JOAN NWAGWU

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has cautioned the Federal Government against going ahead with its plan to restructure the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

Mr Joe Ajaero, the NLC President, said in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja that the plan would only worsen the crisis in the nation’s power sector.

The TCN coordinates the nation’s electricity transmission network, and is one of 18 companies that were unbundled from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria in April 2004.

It was incorporated in November 2005 and issued a transmission licence in 2005 to transmit electricity, engage in system operation and electricity trading.

The company is currently fully owned and operated by the government.

Mr Adebayo Adelabu, the Minister of Power, who announced the restructuring plan, had explained that it was to align with the Electricity Act 2023 and the power industry demands.

He said government plans to unbundle the TCN into two entities: the Independent System Operator and the Transmission Service Provider.

The restructuring, he added, will synchronise with the evolving landscape of state electricity markets, address demands for the decentralisation of the national grid into regional grids interconnected by a new higher voltage national or super-grid.

Ajaero, however, said that the plan was not different from the previous restructuring of the power sector, which was yet to yield any result.

He argued that Nigeria’s economy would be worse off, and advised President Bola Tinubu to convene a genuine national stakeholders forum to critically review the privatisation exercise in the sector.

“It is important that we learn from the mistakes of the past so that its errors are not repeated and the same consequences befall our nation again,” the NLC President added.

According to him, the plan as announced by the minister portends great danger to the power sector and will imperil the ability of the state to control, regulate and guarantee the safety of the nation’s grid system at all times.

Ajaero further argued that handing over the power transmission infrastructure would expose the nation to blackmail and weaken the ability to transmit and distribute power around the country. (NAN)

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