The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), , has challenged the widely held belief that transmission remains the biggest bottleneck in Nigeria’s electricity sector, insisting that the national grid has sufficient capacity to transmit more power than is currently being generated.

Speaking at a four-day Parliamentary and Stakeholders’ Engagement Summit on Power Sector Reforms in Nigeria, Abdulaziz said TCN’s transmission wheeling capacity has risen to 8,700 megawatts (MW), significantly above the highest power ever generated and delivered to the national grid.

Citing data from the , he noted that while Nigeria’s installed generation capacity stands at 13,625MW, the highest power generated and transmitted was 5,801.84MW, recorded on March 4, 2025. On the same day, the country achieved a record daily energy delivery of 128,370.75 megawatt-hours (MWh).

“The national grid can currently transmit significantly more power than has ever been generated and supplied to it,” Abdulaziz said, adding that TCN has consistently wheeled all available generation supplied to the grid.

The TCN chief highlighted major achievements recorded by the company in recent years, including the expansion of bulk transmission capacity from about 7,000MW to 8,700MW. He disclosed that between January 2024 and November 2025, TCN commissioned 82 transformers, adding approximately 8,500MVA of transformation capacity across the country.

He also revealed that the company has secured more than $1.4 billion in financing from international development partners, including the , ,  and , to support transmission expansion and modernization projects.

Despite the progress, Abdulaziz identified vandalism, right-of-way encroachment, financing constraints, weak market liquidity, and infrastructure security challenges as key obstacles slowing sector growth. He called for stronger legal protection for critical electricity infrastructure, improved funding for transmission projects, and full implementation of the Electricity Act 2023.

According to him, Nigeria’s electricity challenges are not insurmountable but require coordinated action across generation, transmission and distribution. He reaffirmed TCN’s commitment to building a stronger and more reliable grid, saying the company remains ready to support increased power generation and deliver improved electricity supply to Nigerians.