The Federal Government has removed Engineer A.T. Atiku as the managing director of Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN and  approved the secondment of Alhaji Usman Gur Mohammed of the African Development Bank (AfDB) as Atiku’s successor..

A statement by Mr Louis Edozien, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, said Muhammed’s appointment was part of efforts by government to reposition the company for better service delivery to Nigerians.

Edozien said Mohammed has resumed duty with a 12-month non-extendable deadline to complete his transformational mandate and set Transmission Service Providers and Independent System Operators on a path of greater operational efficiency and effectiveness.

The permanent secretary  also said that his approval was designed to ensure responsiveness to the needs of the generation companies and distribution companies, who are TCN’s customers.

Mohammed was until his secondment, the Principal Power Utility Transformation Specialist in the AfDB’s Nigerian Office.

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

“Before joining AfDB, Mr. Mohammed worked for the then National Electric Power Authority (NEPA),” it said.

Mohammed also served as the Secretary of revenue cycle management project, which was NEPA’s first public private partnership initiative.

According to Edozien, Mohammed also served as head of financial management for TCN’s Project Management Unit (PMU).

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

“Mohammed holds a BSc Degree in Accountancy, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, and a Master of Business Administration (Management), Bayero University Kano“ it said.

His appointment has stirred some protest within the TCN, with unions questioning why an accountant should replace an engineer in an organisation that is engineering-driven.

But sources said government has made the management change in consonance with the terms of an AfDB loan.

Engr. Abubakar Atiku and his team during an earlier briefing confirmed that TCN got $300million loan from the World Bank and will get another $365m loan for its projects soon.

Other foreign funds Atiku said TCN is getting and would get are Eurobond $131m, ADB $150m, AFD $170m, and JICA $200m making a total of $1.316bn investments to be handled.

TCN was initially managed by  Manitoba Hydro International (MHI). After the  expatriates left,  Atiku was appointed.

In the past six month, TCN under Atiku has improved power evacuation to 6,500 megawatts (mw) from the previous 5,500mw.

Transmission Loss Factor (TLF) has dropped from 8.05 per cent to 7.82 per cent by January 2017.

Atiku said that will boost TCN’s revenue by N5billion as it translates to more electricity for the 11 Distribution Companies (DisCos).