The decision was announced on Thursday in a statement issued by presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga. The presidency said the appointment takes immediate effect.

In the same statement, the President renewed the tenure of Engineer Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz as Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) for a second and final term.

Aliyu comes into the role from the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education, where he served as Executive Secretary.

The presidency described him as a “distinguished academic and seasoned administrator” with experience across research, education and institutional leadership.

“The President expects him to leverage his wealth of experience to reposition the PTDF for greater impact in human capital development, innovation, and strategic support for the oil and gas sector in line with national priorities,” the statement read.

His appointment points to a goal to strengthen institutions in the petroleum sector, especially around training and capacity building.

For Abdulaziz, the renewal follows what the presidency called a review of his first term in office. It said the transmission company recorded gains in grid stability, expansion of capacity and system upgrades under his leadership.

Officials also linked his work to regional electricity cooperation through the West African Power Pool.

President Tinubu urged both Shu’aibu Aliyu of PTDF and Engineer Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz of TCN to carry out their duties with diligence and integrity, aligning their work with the administration’s Renewed Hope agenda.

Still, Abdulaziz’s reappointment comes with questions. Over the past year, a series of reports alleging procurement breaches during his first term.

The reports noted documents from the Bureau of Public Procurement, which reviewed contracts awarded under emergency procedures.

According to one of the documents, 33 out of 285 contracts did not meet the requirements for emergency procurement under the Public Procurement Act, 2007.

“The Bureau observed that out of the 285 projects executed through the Emergency Procurement Method, 252 projects met the requirements for the adoption of the special method, while 33 projects should have been procured through other methods of procurement as indicated in the Table above.”

The reports also led to concerns about alleged contract splitting and the award of jobs said not to qualify as emergencies. Sources quoted in the reports claimed some contracts were linked to associates, though the company denied wrongdoing when contacted.

Another report alleged that a 2023 Lexus LX 600 SUV, valued at N298.4 million, was procured for the Minister of Power. Documents seen in that report showed payment records and contract details tied to the purchase.

The allegation noted the vehicle was meant to influence decisions on Abdulaziz’s position, a claim not confirmed by the authorities involved.

Despite the controversy, the government has stood by its decision, pointing to performance improvements in the transmission network.

Valued at $170 million and funded by the French Development Agency (AFD), the Abuja Feeding Scheme Project includes five substations and began in April 2019.

Designed to enhance the capital’s power supply, the project aims to construct five new substations. These efforts intend to create a third power source for Abuja, facilitating 24-hour electricity.

Addressing the media during an inspection tour of the ongoing project in Abuja on Thursday, January 29, 2026, Oluwagbenga Ajiboye, executive director of transmission service provider (TSP) at the TCN,

“The scheme comprises six lots: Lots 1 and 2 cover transmission lines from Lafia to New Apo and within Abuja; Lots 3, 4, and 5 involve substations at New Apo, Lugbe West Main, Kuje, and Wumba-Lokogoma.”

“While Lot 6 is the Gwarinpa Transmission Substation, including Lugbe, Idu, and Karimo.”

Ajiboye said the project, once completed, would significantly improve the steady power supply in Abuja and its surrounding areas in order to boost the nation’s capital city’s economic growth and development.

The Executive Director said that the substations are over 91% completed, stating that the TCN is intensely working in order to complete it on time despite numerous constraints.

“The project is not where it is supposed to be because of some constraints, but we are working around the clock to make sure we achieve our aim,” he said.

“The new Apo substation line route has some constraints, and we are working hard to ensure it is free.

But you could see that in the other places, except here, where we have been, two of the stations are almost completed and ready for energisation.

So, based on that, we will concentrate more on the constraints, which include right of way, and once we are able to resolve that, we start operations.”

Ajoboye said the TCN would liaise with the federal government to engage with the relevant stakeholders involved in the right-of-way issues so the company can access the designated routes for power transmission projects.

In a statement released by the Commission, it noted that the meeting, which was expressly suspended by the SEC, was conducted without authorisation and resulted in the purported removal of SEC-appointed members of the Board and the Board Secretary.

The Commission said the resolutions passed during the meeting threaten to reverse the progress achieved through its intervention, which had brought stability to the company and positively impacted its share value.

“The Commission, by this notice, informs the general public and all stakeholders that TCN Plc remains under the Commission’s regulatory involvement,” the statement read.

“The Commission does not recognise the purported Annual General Meeting (AGM) of TCN Plc of July 25, 2025, held in clear disregard of an express directive from the Commission and in contravention of extant laws governing such meetings. The Commission shall accordingly discountenance any resolution passed in the said meeting until all legacy issues are fully resolved.”

Reaffirming its focus on investor protection,  the SEC stated that it would pursue all legal options to ensure compliance with regulatory directives and preserve market discipline.

TCN has been under the SEC’s oversight following a prolonged shareholder crisis involving its parent company, Ikeja Hotels Plc, and affiliated entities.

In 2017, the Commission intervened to stabilise the company’s governance structure by appointing two Interim Independent Directors to the Board.

Led by Anthony Idigbe SAN, the board was tasked with restoring order and corporate governance.

Ahmed Abdulaziz, the managing director and chief executive officer of the Transition Company of Nigeria (TCN), revealed this at the Quarterly Power Sector Working Group meeting in Abuja.

Bolaji Tunji, the special adviser to the Minister of Power on Strategic Communication and Media Relations, in a statement signed on Wednesday, said the government is yet to achieve prosecution of arrested vandals as they are usually released on bail by the Nigerian Police.

Abdulaziz, who was represented by Engr. Olugbenga Ajiboye, the executive director, TCN Transmission Service Provider, revealed that 128 transmission towers have been destroyed either by vandals or bandits, across the country between January and November 2024.

He further lamented that apprehended perpetrators are being granted bail, enabling them to return to their illegal activities and wreaking havoc on the vital transmission infrastructure in the country.

“As I talk to you today, 128 of our towers have been destroyed by either vandals or bandits. To date, we have spent about N8.8bn, by our estimation, to put them back to full and functional use.”

He explained that when the vandals were apprehended and handed over to police for prosecution, they were bailed based on theft and not vandalism.

“It is so sad that each time the vandals were caught and taken to the police for prosecution, police would arrest them for theft instead of vandalism, and they would be bailed. If they are charged for vandalism, they cannot be bailed, but this is where we are. So many of them have been arrested, but each time they will be bailed because police often incident their cases as that of theft.

“When the Shiroro-Mando-Kaduna towers were destroyed, we had to get the full military escorts for our contractors to get the transmission lines and towers restored, and in some cases, they would tell us that we could only work for two hours in some days.

“In some instances, they would even tell us that it was not safe to move there. How do we get out of this? How can we deliver electricity to Nigerians under these terrible circumstances? These are part of the challenges we are facing in the power sector”, Abdulaziz said.

The restoration comes after nine days of total blackout in the northwest, northeast, and parts of north-central Nigeria. This sparked public outrage and led the federal government to deploy armed forces to protect the engineers.

Speaking on the latest development, Mbah said: “The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has successfully restored bulk power supply through its 330kV Ugwuaji-Apir transmission line 1 as of 4:56 pm today, following the completion of repairs on the vandalized section of the line.

“With the restoration of this line, the Apir-Lafia 330kV transmission line 2 is now operational, also, bulk power transmission has been restored to Lafia, Makurdi, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Bauchi, & Gombe States.

“As restoration efforts continue, with the TCN engineering team preparing to commence work on the second 330kV transmission line. All necessary materials for the repairs are on hand, and work will begin as soon as the site is secured for the safety of our personnel to the affected sections of the vandalized 330kV transmission line two.

“In the meantime, teams of linesmen will re-patrol the 330kV line 2 to ensure that no other sections are impacted as the repair works progress.”

It has been reported earlier that states in the North-West, North-East, and parts of North-Central Nigeria are set to face power outages due to a disruption in the two 330kV Ugwaji-Apir Double Circuit transmission lines, affecting power supply in these regions.

This was confirmed by the spokesperson of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Ndidi Mbah, through a circular. Mbah stated that the tripping of both lines has resulted in a loss of 468 megawatts (MW), leading to a significant power outage. Moreover, there have been several instances of transmission line tripping and even grid collapses this year, causing extensive blackouts across various states and nationwide.

Nigeria is currently struggling with inadequate electricity supply, forcing individuals and companies to rely on diesel-powered generators to sustain businesses and industries.

The power supply deficit has been linked to multiple factors, including low power generation, insufficient gas supply, and issues with distribution companies. Moreover, this situation is further aggravated by frequent disruptions of transmission lines due to vandalism, weather-related events, and technical challenges. As a result, the reliance on generators has increased operational costs for businesses, affecting profitability and limiting economic growth.

However, this may imply that the region comprising 17 states will remain in blackout till Tuesday, November 12, 2024.

Adelabu, while responding to questions from senators at the National Assembly, also said partial restoration would be completed within the next three days.

His words; “We are working with security agencies to access the gridwould currently occupied by vandals. “I assure you that within the next 14 days, the repairs will be completed, and power will be fully restored to the North.”

Of importance is the fact that this declaration, however, contrasts comments made by the relevant agency in charge of the repair.

Earlier in the day, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, stated that the ongoing repairs to the damaged transmission line that led to a blackout in northern Nigeria will be completed in the next five days (November 3, 2024).

It noted, however, that alternative measures have been implemented to transmit 400 megawatts to certain areas within the next 24 hours.

Sule Abdulaziz, the Managing Director of TCN, disclosed this development at a press briefing in Abuja, updating Nigerians on efforts to restore electricity to the northern region.

He also stated that a siege laid by bandits significantly hindered initial attempts to repair the vandalized 330kV Shiroro-Mando Line 1, and this disruption ultimately led to the collapse of several other towers along the line.

Recall that On Monday, governors of the 19 northern states called for the diversification of energy following persistent blackouts in 17 states of the region recently.

Apart from Niger and Kwara, 17 states in the North are without electricity supply in the last two weeks. The worst affected are Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Gombe, and Katsina, which have not had a supply in the last two weeks.

Others are Sokoto, Zamfara, Bauchi, Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Taraba, Niger, Plateau, Nasarawa, Kogi and Benue. The disruption of electricity supply to the northern part of the country was due to the vandalization of the Shiroro-Kaduna transmission line, the major line that supplied electricity to the north.

On Monday, TCN explained that insecurity had delayed repairs but assured it was working tirelessly to restore the bulk power supply.

President Bola Tinubu also directed TCN to expedite repairs and mandated the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to provide security support.

Providing an update at the briefing, the TCN MD said the company had deployed its engineers to complete the restoration and is set to distribute approximately 500 to 600 megawatts to the northern region by Sunday.

Abdulaziz said, “When the Shororo-Mando line was destroyed, the other gateway used to feed the northern part of the country was using the Ugwaji-Apir line. But unfortunately, that line was also vandalized. Restoring one of these lines will allow TCN to wheel about 400MW of power through that corridor. TCN is also intensifying efforts to repair and restore the second line on Ugwuaji-Apir by Sunday, 3 November 2024.

“This will enable TCN to wheel a substantial quantum of power from Apir to Jos, Kaduna, and Kano.”

“When this incident happened, efforts were made by using local vigilantes who confirmed a snap conductor on a tower, but they could not identify the tower number. Arrangements were made to use the local group to escort our engineers in the night to effect repairs to evade the bandits in the location. Unfortunately, we did not succeed because the bandits got wind of our intentions and laid siege to the area.”

As a result of this situation, the TCN MD stated that engineers conducting the line repair work under strict supervision from security personnel leave the site by 6 PM every day.

“Our engineers are working to restore that line, but due to security concerns, they require a military escort. By 6 pm, our engineers have to leave the area for safety, return to a secure location for the night, and resume work in the morning.

“As of now, line one, which can carry 400 megawatts, should be ready between today and tomorrow. “The second line, with five spans vandalized, is expected to be ready by Sunday. “So once we complete these two lines, we will be able to transmit at least 500 to 600 megawatts to the northern region,” he further stated.

On what the company is doing to stop the vandalism on transmission lines, he said, “We have been cooperating with owners of the land, that’s with the local people. We have also been cooperating with the security agencies, with civil defense, with the Nigerian police, and with the army to make sure that they patrol our transmission line. We also used to engage locals, even providing them with transportation and phone so that if they saw anything happen in our transmission line, they would quickly call us. So we are working on that.”

“On the issue of deploying helicopters to survey transmission infrastructure, Engr Abdulaziz stated that since the time of NEPA, there were helicopters that were patrolling networks each time there was a problem. But since TCN was created, those helicopters have not been in use. “We have proposed to acquire new ones, but we’re still waiting for approval and finances.

“However, what we’re talking about is vandalism, so even if you have a chopper to identify the faults, we need to go there to work, but it is difficult because of the security situation. People have asked what we’re doing to avoid recurrence, the truth is that we have been talking. We’ve been engaging the locals, security agencies, and many groups to help us protect our equipment.

“Grid collapse is not just the problem of TCN. We are the managers of grid and transmission networks, but other faults from generation and distribution networks can also trigger a collapse.

“We are not relenting; we’re working to replace outdated infrastructure to ensure we have a more stable grid. If you look at what used to happen before, the situation used to be worse but gradually, things are improving. And we’ll continue to work to get them to even be better.”

Meanwhile, the power minister has advocated a total ban on sales of metal scrap, stressing that the market for these products fuels the vandalization of critical electricity infrastructure. The minister also insisted that there must be an enactment of legislation to make vandalization of electricity transmission installations a capital offense.

He urged members of the National Assembly to speedily pass the bill seeking to criminalize the act. According to him, prescribing capital punishment for the crime will reduce the incidents of vandalization of the infrastructure.

Adelabu said: “There must be stiffer penalties. There have to be stiffer penalties; you said capital punishment, yes, maybe. It may not just be one month, two months, or such fines. Those are too petty.

“Also, we need to look at stopping the sale of scrap metals in the country. They are those who encourage vandalism because they buy these things from criminals cheaply.”

Meanwhile, Adelabu dismisses the notion that the recent improvement in electricity supply is due to the rainy season. He explained that only 25% of the country’s power generation is sourced from hydro plants, while 75% comes from gas-fired thermal stations.

He emphasized that the improvement in power supply cannot be attributed to increased rainfall. “During the season, we have only about 25% of the power generated from hydro sources. The majority of our supply is from gas thermal. The rain does not have much impact on power generation during the rainy season.

“I’m sure that the stability we have recorded in the past few months is not because of the rainy season but because of improvement in power generation. We just opened the Zungeru Power Plant which is not even generating at full capacity.

“It is generating at about 300-400MW because of the existing evacuation limitations. We are working to address this and I assure you that we will record further improvement even during the dry season,” Adelabu concluded.

According to TCN’s monthly bulletin and news reports released on Monday, 266 power transmission towers were destroyed by vandals in various parts of the country.

The vandalism of transmission towers occurred in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Enugu, Bauchi, Port Harcourt, and Benin regions. TCN contracts out the repairs of some of the vandalized towers while also deploying in-house engineers to work on others.

Further analysis of the report reveals that 90 towers were destroyed in 2022, representing a 23.3% increase to 111 towers in 2023. In the current year, electricity tower vandalism has occurred 65 times between January and October 27, 2024. In 2022, 21 towers on the 132kV Kano-Kankia transmission line two were destroyed, and 16 were damaged under the Kano-Kankia line one. Similarly, 19 towers on the Makurdi-Jos double circuit transmission line were vandalized, among other incidents.

In 2023, 15 towers on the 132kV Owerri-Ahaoda transmission line in Port Harcourt were damaged, and 13 towers on the 132kV Ahoada-Yenagoa transmission line were vandalized. Additionally, 122 earthen conductors, 244 galvanized bolts, nuts, and copper cable lugs were stolen from the remaining towers. fixing each vandalized tower will cost about N110 million

Among the notable incidents in the first ten months of 2024 was the collapse of Tower 388 on the 132kV Jos-Bauchi line in the Bauchi/Yelwa single circuit transmission line, as well as Towers 377 and 378 on the 330kV Gombe-Damaturu line along Bauchi/Gombe and Damaturu. Additional collapses were reported on the 330kV Damaturu-Maiduguri line, including Towers 125, 126, 193, 194, and 195.

The report also noted that in the Bauchi-Gombe area, towers 450, 452, 453, and 455 on the 132kV line were vandalized, and Tower 70 on the 330kV Gwagwalada-Katampe line in Abuja saw four of its footings destroyed. Vandals also removed tower members of the 330kV Jos-Gombe line from towers 288 to 291.

Despite improvements in power generation, vandalism continues to undermine these advancements, posing a challenge to the government’s ability to ensure a stable power supply across the country. This extensive damage has significantly impacted the electricity supply in the affected areas, as noted by officials from the TCN, which manages the nation’s power grid.

Just last week, the Association of Power Generating Companies reported that the national grid has collapsed 162 times in the last 11 years.

Meanwhile, TCN stated that it is collaborating with the Office of the National Security Adviser to repair the vandalized Shiroro-Kaduna line, which has led to a reduction of bulk electricity supply to Kaduna, Kano, and other major cities in the north. In an earlier statement, Ndidi Mbah, the General Manager of Public Affairs at TCN, mentioned that the company is working diligently to restore bulk power supply as quickly as possible despite prevailing security challenges. TCN also debunked reports suggesting an indefinite power outage in parts of Northern Nigeria.

The statement read, “The current outage affecting Northern states for several days now is a result of vandalism of the Shiroro-Mando transmission line—a critical infrastructure that supplies electricity to the region. Prevailing insecurity in the area has delayed the immediate repairs necessary to restore supply.

“However, as a temporary measure, TCN has rerouted bulk power supply through the Ugwuaji-Apir 330kV line, which recently snapped.

“TCN has been collaborating closely with the Office of the National Security Adviser to enable our engineers to access the vandalism site and effect the necessary repairs. This is vital to ensure the safety of lives during the repairs.

“We remain steadfast in our commitment to overcoming these challenges because we understand the importance of electricity in the socio-economic lives of the people and the extreme inconveniences this situation is causing the government and all electricity customers in the affected areas. “We pledge not to relent in doing everything possible to rectify the problems and restore power supply to the affected areas.”

The TCN said this on Monday as the national grid shut down led to a blackout as a nationwide strike begins.

TCN in a statement states that the incident occurred at about 2.19 am Monday, 3rd June 2024.

The shutdown started from the Benin transmission operator to other substations in Ganmo, Benin, Ayede, Olorunsogo, Akangba and Osogbo.

TCN also says power generating units from different generating stations were forced to shut down some units of their generating plants.

At about 3.23 am Monday, however, TCN says it has commenced grid recovery, using the Shiroro Substation to attempt to feed the transmission lines supplying bulk electricity to the Katampe Transmission Substation.

TCN assures that it will sustain efforts in recovering and stabilizing the grid to ensure the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres nationwide.

The labour union has been demanding for upward review of minimum wage up to N494,000 from the present N30,000.

The Federal Government said the demand amounting to N9.5 trillion yearly is unsustainable.

[Image Credit]

TCN said, on the contrary, in recent years, the number of grid disturbances/system collapses has gradually reduced.

Ndidi Mbah, general manager, Public Affairs at TCN in a post on TCN’s Facebook page today, said, clearly, between 2020 to date (five years), “we recorded fourteen total and six partial grid disturbances totalling twenty (20), which represents a 76.47% reduction in grid disturbance, when compared to the previous five years, (2015 to 2019) where we had sixty-four total and twenty-one partial grid disturbances, totalling eighty-five (85) times”.

“This improvement is, however, not unconnected to the continuous effort by the management under Engr. Sule Abdulaziz to strategically expand the grid while harnessing in-house capacities to find solutions to grid stability, pending the deployment of SCADA/EMS.

Techeconomy had reported in its February 05, 2024 edition about the plans by TCN to investigate the reasons for recurrent national grid Collapse, particularly the tripping of the Sapele Steam and Egbin power-generating units.

This comes on the heels of the organization’s announcement that the national grid has been completely restored following a partial disruption around 11:21 a.m. on Sunday, February 04, 2024.

“No doubt there is room for improvement, and TCN will continue to work hard to further reduce the number of grid disturbances to the barest minimum”, Mbah said.

Similarly, power distributors that reject electricity allocated to them by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) shall be dealt with severely going forward.

Chief Adebayo Adelabu, the Minister of Power, who disclosed these in Abuja before commencing a meeting with heads of agencies under his ministry, also disclosed that the Federal Government was subsidising the electricity bills of consumers nationwide by about 65 per cent.

“I am holding this meeting with all the directors in the Ministry of Power and the CEOs of our agencies in order to address the lingering crisis in the power sector,” Adelabu stated

According to him, what the country is witnessing currently with respect to power supply is not acceptable, adding that “the situation is getting worse, and in the last two, three weeks the level of power supply to Nigerians has not been good enough.”

Commenting on the performances of power distribution companies, the minister stated that the Discos would be dealt with severely for power load rejection.

He said, “We must address the issues of distribution, and I’ve said before now that the non-performance of Discos in terms of epileptic power supply qualifies as a basis for the revocation of licence.

“Any Disco that is found wanting will be severely dealt with; I’ve had discussions with the chairman of NERC. Their (Discos) actions or inactions directly affect the performance of the sector, and we must take it seriously.

“If we ramp up generation to 6,000MW as planned in three to six months, and ramp up our infrastructure in transmission to get power to the Discos within the next couple of days, if the Discos are not picking this power, it amounts to nothing.

“So the refusal to take up and supply power by the Discos is a qualified basis for the revocation of licence. Therefore the Discos should not frustrate our efforts in generation and transmission.”

The minister said he had discussed with NERC to come up with adequate performance measurement standards for Discos, stressing that laggards should be fished out and sanctioned.

“We should not be toothless bulldogs, barking and barking without biting. We should bite, for by the time we sanction two, three Discos heavily, others will sit up, and it will serve as a deterrent to others that we mean business.

“Their actions and inactions are causing us damage as a country. So they must know that it is no longer business as usual. We should have performance information, for example, last week, a number of the Discos did not pick up the power provided by TCN, throwing a number of communities into darkness,” he stated.