Blackout as national grid collapses again
By Denis Mathew, Abuja
There is pandemonium as major cities in Nigeria including Abuja and Lagos have been thrown into darkness as the national electricity grid collapsed again.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) confirmed this in a statement on Monday, December 11, 2023.
The nationwide outage occurred in the afternoon, leaving power consumers across the country in total darkness.
Data on grid collapse showed that in 2013, the country recorded 24 power system collapses. The collapse incidents stood at 13 in 2014. In 2015, the grid collapsed 10 times; in 2016, it rose to 28, while 21 cases were recorded in 2017.
Grid collapse cases in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 were 13, 11, four and four, respectively. It collapsed about 10 times between 2022 and this year.
According to the statement signed by Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s spokesperson, the restoration of the national power grid is already ongoing.
Although Mbah said that power supply has already been restored in Abuja and a few other areas, it was confirmed that the capital city is still in darkness as at the time of writing this report.
“Abuja has already been restored, so it has different areas. Full restoration ongoing,” she said.
The day’s seizure marked the second collapse since mid-September when distribution firms nationwide reported unavailability of bulk electricity from federal infrastructure.
This comes days after the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said the ministry will collaborate with state governments to address the challenges in the power sector and boost supply.
Adelabu made the disclosure when the Governor of Abia state, Alex Otti, paid him a visit.
According to the minister, meaningful transformation in the power sector is hinged on the active participation of governments at the state level.
He said that state governments have a role to play in the distribution segment, which encompasses infrastructure enhancement, reducing the metering gap, enforcing bill collection and rural electrification.
They are also to help combat power theft, prevent asset vandalisation, and secure right-of-way transmission lines.
“To achieve this, the ministry plans to collaborate closely with state ministries of power, energy and public utilities,” he said.
Mr Adelabu said addressing challenges in the distribution segment also requires unified efforts from sub-national governments due to its retail nature.
The minister urged state governments to support and monitor Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) to achieve their performance improvement plans since they are closer to them and better positioned.
Adelabu also proposed unbundling various regional DisCos into different states to allow for more localised oversight.
