FG Appoints Mohammed to Head TCN

By Dipo Olowookere

Mr Usman Gur Mohammed has been appointed as the Managing Director of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

From 2012 to 2016, Manitoba Hydro International of Canada ran TCN as a management contractor and with the exit of Manitoba, Mr Mohammed comes with a clear mandate to review, validate and implement of the best management structure, strategy, business plan and processes to take TCN, both TSP and ISO, to the next level of operational effectiveness.

Mr Mohammed has resumed duty with a 12 month non-extendable deadline to complete his transformational mandate and set TSP and ISO on a path of greater operational efficiency and effectiveness, and enhanced responsiveness to the needs of the generation companies and distribution companies, who are TCN’s customers.

Mr Mohammed was until his secondment the Principal Power Utility Transformation Specialist in the AfDB’s Nigeria Country Department.

He joined the service of the AfDB in 2009.  He has in various senior level management roles been in charge of financial control, power utility policy and transformation.

Before joining AfDB, Mr Mohammed worked for the then National Electric Power Authority (NEPA).  He served as the Secretary of Revenue Cycle Management project which was NEPA’s first Public Private Partnership initiative.

He also served as head of financial management for TCN’s Project Management Unit (PMU), the agency that supervises transmission projects financed by the World Bank with a mandate to implement best procurement practices for the World Bank financed projects.

He also served as a lead member of the institutional reform team that completed the various studies that prepared TCN for the current reforms being implemented in Nigeria’s power sector.

Mr Mohammed is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the various professional bodies related to his profession.

He holds a BSc Degree (Hons) in Accountancy from the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, and a Master of Business Administration (Management), Bayero University Kano.

Nigeria’s power sector is in transition from a vertically integrated government owned statutory monopoly to an industry in which private and publicly owned companies interact through contracts under the regulation of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

Since 2013 the generation companies who produce the electricity we all consume and the distribution companies who deliver it to our homes, industries and businesses, are now been mainly privately owned companies.

TCN, which transmits the electricity from the generation companies to the distribution companies for onward delivery and sale to customers, is currently owned by Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN).

In this role TCN operates two important licenses issued by NERC.

As the Transmission Services Provider (TSP), TCN owns and operates the 132KV and 330KV high tension transmission lines and the 330/132/33KV substations that make up Nigeria’s national grid.

As the Independent Systems Operator (ISO), TCN monitors and controls the national grid and when and how the power stations, which are owned by different companies, can supply electricity for delivery to distribution companies in the safe and orderly way.

TCN charges the distribution companies for these services.