FG injects N600b into electricity market

The Market Operator of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Engr. Edmund Ejie, on Wednesday disclosed that the Federal Government has approved N600billion for injection into the nation’s electricity market.

He broke the news to reporters at the Market Operator’s Participants/Key Stakeholders 2019 3rd Quarter Interactive Forum in Abuja.

He said that the fund is ripe for disbursement any moment from now.

According to him, the intervention is for the payment of the shortfall in electricity invoices for the entire market.

He noted that the intervention is not restricted to a single chain in the market but wholistic.

He said that “the intervention is at a very advanced level. It has been signed by Mr. President, Muhammadu Buhari.”

TCN Managing Director, Mr. Usman Gur Mohammed announced that the company has stopped paying rent on its premises at the National Control Center, Oshogbo in Osun State.

He recalled that the government had paid rent on it for 50 years but at the point of planning to install a SCADA in the center, it realized that it was inappropriate to install it in a rented property.

While deciding to relocate the center, the TCN was told that the property on which it has paid rent in error for 50 years belong to the Federal Government.

This has culminated in the stoppage of further payments of rent on the property.

He did not however disclose whether the government has plans to recover the fund from the private individuals that was fraudulently collected its rent for five decades.