Over N2.5bn spent on clearing stranded containers ―TCN

OVER N2.5billion has so far been spent on clearing stranded containers with power equipment, the Transmission Company of Nigeria TCN has said.

The containers according to the company, are supposed to be cleared by contractors but who are not qualified enough to do so.

TCN Managing Director MD, Usman Gur Mohammed who stated this at a briefing in Abuja lamented that most times, contractors who are engaged to execute transmission projects are not qualified.

He said the reason is not far-fetched from the fact that foreign companies who manufacture such equipment are unwilling to take the risk of installation in the country due to the insecurity issues.

According to the MD, the foreign companies would then sublet such contract to another company without considering their competence and qualification.

“The next problem is the qualification of contractors, what happens is that most of the time, these power equipment’s are not manufactured here so because of that these foreign companies wants to do business with Nigeria but they are not interested in the fixing and installation of the equipment inside Nigeria because of insecurity issues so they don’t want to come to Nigeria.

“Most of the time, they will sign contracts with some people in their name they don’t care if these people have the capacity to implement the project what they are interested in is to sell their equipment in Nigeria so when they enter into this agreement, they will ship the equipment  but when this equipment gets into Nigeria you will found out that the people they signed agreement with don’t even have the capacity to clear the goods from the port and that is why we have so many of these contracts that have failed.

“As I speak to you, we have spent about N2.5billion clearing stranded containers from the port and we are not finished. These are containers that contractors are supposed to clear but because they don’t have the capacity to clear,” he said.

As a result, he said the TCN has decided to raise the qualification benchmark for contractors and a policy compelling any manufacturer who wants to do business in Nigeria to take the risk of installation.