TCN Contractors Donate Furniture to Zaria Community School

Contractors working on a power transmission project have donated classroom furniture to Zaria Community School in Jaja, Kaduna State, to improve pupils’ learning conditions.

The donation took place on Wednesday, October 7, as part of efforts to support communities hosting the Transmission Company of Nigeria’s (TCN) infrastructure projects.

The contractors are handling Lot 1 of the Nigeria Transmission Expansion Project (NTEP-TS1), funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The new desks and chairs will replace inadequate seating arrangements that previously forced some pupils to sit on bare floors and crowded benches.

Speaking during the handover, the Principal Manager of the Project Management Team in TCN’s Kaduna Sub-Region, Engr. Onaga Jacob Ugochukwu, said the gesture reflected the need to make host communities beneficiaries of infrastructure development.

“When we build transmission lines, we are building for the community. When we equip their classrooms, we are building the community itself,” he said.

Ugochukwu added that a comfortable learning environment could help pupils perform better and prepare them for future opportunities.

“A child who learns in comfort learns better, and that child may become the engineer who maintains these lines tomorrow,” he said.

The District Head of Jaja, Alhaji Abdullahi Muhammed, welcomed the donation and praised the project stakeholders for extending their support to the community beyond power infrastructure.

“This is what partnership looks like,” he said.

“TCN and AfDB, through the contractors, did not just pass through our land with towers and lines. They remembered our children. For this, Jaja will continue to stand as guardian of this project and its facilities.”

Muhammed also pledged the community’s continued cooperation with the project and commitment to protecting power infrastructure in the area.

The handover attracted the Principal Manager, Health, Safety and Environment, Ahmed Rufai Sani, and Senior Manager, Engr. Afeez Kareem, both of TCN’s Project Implementation Unit at its corporate headquarters.

The intervention highlights the role of community support initiatives in complementing major infrastructure projects, particularly in areas that host transmission facilities.

For the pupils of Zaria Community School, the new furniture offers a more comfortable setting for learning, while the donation strengthens ties between the project stakeholders and the host community.