Why FG Cannot Provide Free Two Months Power Supply Amid COVID-19 – TCN

The Transmission Company of Nigeria TCN said the federal government cannot provide free electricity to Nigerians because the federal government does not own the power.

Speaking on Thursday in Abuja, the managing director of TCN, Usman Mohammed stressed that the TCN is owned by the federal government, while the distribution and generation sub-sectors are controlled by private investors.

Usman therefore describe the information going round, about the federal government providing free two months power supply to cushion the effect of the coronavirus pandemic, as mere ‘propaganda’.

He stated: “There is this information that went round that power is going to be free. I don’t know where that information came from.

“But I can tell you that there is nothing like power is going to be free because the federal government cannot make power free. The federal government does not own the power.

“In the electricity industry, apart from transmission, which is just the transporter, all the other chains do not belong to the federal government. So, I cannot understand how somebody will concoct that information.

“But these are some of the people involved in propaganda who brand information that is very unnecessary, to be honest.

“I think at this stage what we need to do is to sustainably supply electricity and that is what we are doing.”

Recall that the power Distribution Companies (Discos) had said they were working with the federal government to provide free two-month electricity as palliatives to cushion the effect of COVID-19 on citizens.