TCN: WHEN STRIKE BECOMES THE ONLY OPTION TO GET GOVT'S ATTENTION....... ALOOMING INJUSTICE AT PLAY

PROTESTS ROCKS TCN OVER PLANNED REMOVAL OF MD, ATIKU; As Unions Rejects Accountant Candidate

Massive protests on Tuesday, rocked the headquarters of the Transmission Company of Nigeria TCN over what the National Union of Electricity Employees described as the illegal and planned removal of the Managing Director, Engr. Abubakar Tambuwal Atiku.

Speaking to newsmen during the protest, FCT Chairman of the NUEE, Comrade Engr. Wisdom Nwachukwu stated that the National Secretariat was informed of a letter from the Permanent Secretary (Power) in the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, Engr. Louis Edozien last Friday of the appointing of an Accountant to head the TCN.

According to the FCT chairman, the NUEE and Senior Staff Employees of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSEEAC) wrote to inform the Permanent Secretary, the Minister of Labour, and President Muhammadu Buhari.

“The contention is that we learnt the Minister of Power, Babatunde Fashola informed the Managing Director, Engr. Abubakar Atiku Tambuwal through Edozien that a substantive MD is taking over from him with immediate effect”.

“There are protocols or letter to back that up. Atiku Tambuwal was reported to have said it is not done so and that he will not handover TCN to an Accountant who rose through him”.

“The highest position the candidate would have attained if he was still with TCN would be Principal Manager (PM), and not an MD. Atiku also insisted on having a document to back it up”, Nwachukwu stated.

In its briefing, the Union disclosed that TCN is a highly technical driven outfit, with its indices of staff position put at about 75% technical and 25% non technical.

“Why would they now bring an Accountant”? They Unions queried this decision while carrying placards with captions; “Accountant for Accounting, Engineer for Engineering”.

Nwachukwu further said; “the World Bank will be giving another project loan and that the Ministry wants its person to do its own job. This is an interference with impunity.

“We wrote to the SGF, Mr. Babachir David Lawal and to the President. Mr. President responded to say the issue should stay at Status Quo till further notice”.

The aggrieved workers disclosed that in spite of the “stay action” order from the Presidency, there was another letter on Tuesday January 31^st from Engr. Edozien insisting that Atiku must proceed to handover to the person.

A copy of the letter which was sighted by NAIJNEWSALERT reads thus: “A request for the secondment of Mr. Usman Gur Mohammed from African Development Bank (ADB) as the Transitional Chief Executive Officer of TCN”.

According to Engr. Nwachukwu, the said Mr. Mohammed was once a Chief Accountant of the Project Management Unit (PMU) of the TCN and had not the managerial training to steer TCN.

The Unions said it only briefed its staff and would continue with work if the Ministry respect the “Presidential Order” and allow Atiku to continue his duties as the MD.  

In an earlier briefing, the embattled Engr. Atiku Abubakar and his team had confirmed that the TCN had received a $300m from the World Bank and would soon get another $365m loan for its projects again.

According to the TCN MD, other foreign funds the TCN will be getting soon include a Eurobond of $131m, $150m from ADB, the AFD $170m and JICA $200m with the cumulative put at $1.316b investments to be handled by TCN.

Asked to list his achievements in the six months period after the Manitoba Hydro International (MHI) expatriates left the TCN, Engr. Atiku responded by saying that the utility can now evacuate 6,500 megawatts (MW) from the previous 5,500mw.

Transmission Loss Factor (TLF) has dropped from 8.05% to 7.82% by January 2017 which will further boost the TCN’s revenue by #5billion as it translates to more electricity for the Distribution Companies (DisCos).

However, in the past nine years, there had not been an audit report even with the presence of MHI, but had commissioned Price Waterhouse and amp; Cooper (PWC) to complete a 2005 to 2014 external report on TCN by February ending, Atiku disclosed.