The Federal Government is considering supplying electricity to the Republic of Chad following a recent request by the neighbouring country.
The government-owned Transmission Company of Nigeria disclosed on Sunday that a meeting was held last week to discuss the possibilities of connecting Chad to the national grid. “Meeting between Ministry of Power, TCN, and the Chadian Minister of Energy, Mrs Ramatou Mahamat Houtouin, to discuss the possibilities of connecting the Republic of Chad to the Nigerian national grid [was held] on Wednesday, October 21, 2020,” the TCN said on its official Twitter handle on Sunday, alongside pictures of the meeting.
The TCN had on June 22, 2020, announced that the government of Chad Republic had formally requested the Nigerian government to connect them to the Nigerian electricity grid in order to ease the burden of power supply in the country.
It disclosed that the Chadian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Abakar Chachaimi, made the request when he led a delegation on a working visit to the Nigerian Minister of Power, Mr Sale Mamman, recently in Abuja.
The tweet by TCN was received with widespread criticism by followers of the TCN
Twitter handle.
Nigeria, whose available power generation has been drifting between 3,000 MW and 4,500 MW in recent years, currently exports electricity to three neighbouring countries- namely Republics of Niger, Benin, and Togo.
Total power generation in the country fell to 3,687.80MW, as of 8 am on Monday, from 4,969.00MW on Sunday, according to data obtained from the Nigerian Electricity System Operator website.
The number of plants on the national grid that did not produce any megawatts of electricity also rose to 11, as of 6 am on Sunday, from eight on Saturday. These idle plants include Geregu II, Sapele II, Alaoji, Olorunsogo II, Omotosho II, Ihovbor, Gbarain, Ibom Power, AES, ASCO and Trans-Amadi.
Twenty-seven plants are currently connected to the national grid, which is being managed by the TCN.
