Nigerians were on Tuesday plunged into darkness following another collapse of the national power grid.
Recall that since January 2024 till date, the grid has collapsed 10 times.
Within one week in October, the grid collapsed three times with its attendant blackouts, sparking reactions from Nigerians.
Checks by our correspondent confirmed yesterday that the grid lost power generation around 1:50 pm.
As of 1pm, power generation was 2,711 megawatts. At 12pm it was 3,631MW.
Earlier, power generation peaked at 3,934.77MW around six o’clock in the morning.
However, between 2 pm and 3 pm, hourly generation dropped to 0.00MW. The 22 power generation plants on the grid lost power supply at the time of the incident.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria confirmed the development, saying “The national grid experienced a partial disturbance at about 1;52 pm on 5th November 2024.“
TCN spokesperson, Ndidi Mbah, said, “This followed a series of lines and generators trippings that caused instability of the grid and, consequently, the partial disturbance of the system.“
Mbah said data from the National Control Centre revealed that a part of the grid was not affected by the bulk power disruption.
“TCN engineers are already working to quickly restore bulk power supply to the states affected by the partial disturbance. Presently, bulk power supply has been restored to Abuja, at 2.49 pm, and we are gradually restoring to other parts of the country.
“We sincerely apologise for every inconvenience this may cause our electricity customers,“ she said.
The power outage caused by the grid collapse affected both the north and the south.
Ikeja DisCo of Lagos, in a notice to its customers, said, “Dear esteemed customer, please be informed that we experienced a system outage today affecting supply within our network. Restoration of supply is ongoing in collaboration with our critical stakeholders. Kindly bear with us.”
Also, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company in a post on its Official X handle, said, “Dear Valued Customer, please be informed that the power outage being experienced is due to a system failure from the national grid at 1:52 pm to our franchise areas. Rest assured, we are working with the relevant stakeholders to restore power as soon as the grid is stabilised. Thank you for your understanding.”
Ibadan DisCo reported, “Kindly note that a system disturbance occurred today, Tuesday, 5th November 2024, resulting in power outages across our franchise areas (Oyo, Ibadan, Ogun, Kwara, and Osun regions).
“However, partial power supply has been restored to Osun, Kwara, and Ogun regions. We are working closely with our partners in the value chain to ensure the speedy restoration of power supply to the Oyo and Ibadan regions. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused by this disruption and appreciate your understanding in this matter.”
Some parts of the north where power was recently restored experienced another blackout yesterday following the system collapse.
Damaturu metropolis and its surrounding areas in Yobe State experienced widespread power outages.
It was observed that power supply from Gombe, which normally provides electricity to Damaturu, was disrupted.
A management staff member at the Damaturu PHCN District office, who requested anonymity, stated, “As of now, we have no information regarding the cause of the power outage in Damaturu and its environs. We have contacted the Gombe substation, which supplies power to our area, but they have not been able to provide any information about the grid failure.”
The Jos Electricity Distribution Company announced a power outage in Gombe, Bauchi, Plateau and Benue States.
In a press statement signed by the Head, Corporate Communications, Dr Friday Elijah, the Jos DisCo said the interruption that occurred at about 1:52 pm was a sequel to the loss of power supply from the national grid.
The statement partly read, “The current outage being experienced within our franchise states is a result of loss of power supply from the national grid. The loss of power supply from the national grid occurred this afternoon at about 1352 hours of today, Tuesday, 5th November 2024, hence the loss of power supply on all our feeders.”
While seeking patience and understanding, Elijah promised that power would be restored as soon as national grid was restored.
“We hope to restore normal power supply to our esteemed customers as soon as the grid supply is restored back to normalcy,” Elijah added.
Similarly, Enugu, Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi and Imo States were plunged into darkness.
The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company as well as the Mainpower Electricity Distribution Limited reported loss of power supply in their networks.
The management of the companies in separate statements blamed the loss of supply to a general system collapse.
In a statement on Tuesday, EEDC’s Head of Corporate Communications, Emeka Ezeh, confirmed the collapse occurred at 1:52 pm on November 5, 2024. As a result, the entire EEDC network l experienced power outages.
The statement partly read: “The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC wishes to inform her esteemed customers of a general system collapse that occurred at 13:52 hours today, 5th November 2024. This has resulted in the loss of supply currently being experienced across the EEDC network.
“Consequently, due to this development, all our interface TCN stations are out of supply, and we are unable to provide services to our customers in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, and Imo States.
“We are on standby awaiting detailed information about the collapse and restoration of supply from the National Control Centre Osogbo.”
In the same vein, the management of Mainpower Electricity Distribution Limited informed its customers that the loss of supply across Enugu State was a result of the general system collapse.
“Due to this development, all our interface TCN stations are out of supply, and we are unable to provide services to our customers.
“We are on standby awaiting detailed information about the collapse and assure our customers that supply will be restored once the situation normalises.”
Despite the huge investment in the power sector, the national grid collapsed about 106 times under the administrations of President Bola Tinubu and his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.
Source: Punch
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