House of Representatives, for the second time within this week, stepped down the report that seeks to terminate the contract of the management of transmission, system operation and market operation undertakings between Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Manitoba Hydro International Limited (MHI) of Canada.
The initial three-year contract to manage TCN’s facility, which expired on July 31, 2015, was extended by a year and slated to expire on July 31, 2016.
Daniel Asuquo, the chairman House Committee on Power surprisingly requested that the report be stepped down after arguing that the “management contract with MHI is not yielding that desired result and call for the contract to be terminated when it expires in June 2016.”
It was not clear what the grey areas were with the report but what is certain, according to some law makers who commented is that the continued extension of the Manitoba contract against the contract terms has become a national embarrassment.
Meanwhile, the Power Committee is seeking a clear cut succession plan which must include the establishment of the System Operator (SO) and the Transmission Service Provider (TSP) as provided by Section 25 of the EPSR Act, while noting that no Act provided for the existence of a Transmission Company of Nigeria after the dis-integration of the SO and the TSP.”
The recommendations were contained in the report on the investigative public hearing on the motion titled: “Planned payment of N2.7 billion by the Board of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission to its members.”
