The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has clarified that its recent emergency procurement was part of efforts to cushion the effects of insurgency and vandalism and the effects caused to transmission towers.
TCN under the auspices of the Civil Society Organisations Budget Implementation, Assessment, Evaluation and Monitoring Committee, stated this during a press briefing at the weekend in Abuja.
The clarification was in response to a publication alleging that specific contracts termed emergencies and were not awarded in line with the procurement guidelines.
Addressing newsmen, TCN’s consultant, Oyofo Sule, bemoaned the insurgent attacks on power transmission facilities, stating that it has remained a major challenge, leading to intermittent power outages and hindering efforts to stabilise Nigeria’s electricity network.
Highlighting compliance with Section 42 of the Public Procurement Act 2007, TCN emphasised its commitment to transparency, accountability, and the uninterrupted delivery of essential services to citizens.
He said the TCN believes that by making emergency procurement will minimise disruptions caused by such incidents and enhance the resilience of the power grid.
He said: “TCN has over 1,800KM of 330kV and 132kV high voltage transmission lines, and transmission towers traversing the entire nation, and several through very difficult terrains including swamps, forests, areas prone to flooding which cause rapid erosion of tower bases, and natural disasters.
“Also, some of these towers and lines pass through landmines in insurgency prone areas, which is inevitable as the lines must convey electricity to citizens.
“These difficult terrains negatively impact transmission towers and also make it easy to vandalize the towers and lines underscoring the need for emergency procurement.
“Also, the scourge of insurgency and vandalism threaten transmission towers bearing the high tension lines and when these towers are attacked, they must be repaired almost immediately to forestall the total collapse of the tower which often would drag and pull down a number of towers along the same line route, if not quickly remedied causing full system or partial collapse of the nation’s grid.”
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