An engineering expert and member of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), Engr. Sampson Uyouko, has expressed concern over the challenges facing power supply in Nigeria.
He expressed the concern while delivering a lecture at the monthly congress meeting of NSE, Port-Harcourt branch.
Presenting a paper titled “Wheeling Power in Niger Delta: The Journey So far”, Engr. Uyouko who is also General Manager, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Port Harcourt branch, noted that the sector has said a lot of challenges since its inception in 1951.
He said lack of enough manpower, obsolete equipment, kidnapping unavailability of spare parts and unfavourable environment among others were the problems facing power generation.
He informed that Electricity Company of Nigeria (ECN) was established in 1951 while Niger Dams Authority (NDA) was established in 1961 before a merger of ECN and NDA took place in 1972 that resulted to the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) and recently Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in 2005 with 18 companies which privatized PHCN into generations, distribution and transmission in 2012.
He said the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Port Harcourt region, was created in July 2007 and was carved out from the former old Enugu region, with its regional office located at Rumuobiakani, Trans-Amadi Industrial Layout.
He noted that technically, the region comprises four sub-regions and one works centre, which includes Aba sub-region, Afam sub region, Calabar sub-region, Port Harcourt sub-region and Owerri works centre.
Engr. Uyouko stated that the region has a transformer capacity of 2560 MVA, eight No. 330/132/33KV sub-stations, 22-132/33ky sub-stations, 1446km of 330KV lines and 662km of 132KV lines.
