Power outage as Nigeria’s electricity grid collapses

Nigeria’s electricity grid has suffered a system collapse, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) announced on Wednesday.

TCN General Manager (Public Affairs), Ndidi Mbah, explained in a statement that the system collapse led to the power outage witnessed in various parts of the country.

She, however, noted that the company was already making effort to fully restore electricity on the grid.

“The Transmission Company of Nigeria hereby states that at about 11.01 am today, 12th of May, 2021, there was a total system collapse of the grid, as a result of voltage collapse at some parts of the grid.

“TCN commenced grid recovery immediately after the collapse, from Shiroro Generating Station to Katampe TS, Abuja through the Shiroro – Katampe line at 11:29 am, and also through Delta Generating Station to Benin Transmission Substation and has reached Osogbo and parts of Lagos,” the TCN spokesperson said.

She added, “While the grid restoration and power restoration gradually progress to other parts of the country, the cause of voltage collapse that precipitated this failure is equally being investigated,”

Mbah appealed to consumers in the country to be patient with the TCN in its bid to ensure full restoration of the grid and power supply to the remaining parts of the country.

The nation’s electricity grid suffered a system collapse a week after the Federal Government approved about N6.2 billion for the award of contracts for six projects in the power sector.

This approval was granted at the 44th virtual meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided by President Muhammadu Buhari, held on Wednesday last week.

The Minister of Power, Mamman Saleh, who presented six memos to the FEC, had told State House correspondents that efforts by the government to boost power supply in the country dominated discussions at the meeting.

The approvals included the award of a contract for the design, manufacture, and supply of critical spare parts for Crompton Greaves 330KV, 132KV, and 33KV circuit breakers at N298,339,887.04; and procurement of 50 sets of 400AH battery banks – 30 to 50 volts, and 30 number of 110 volts battery charges for the substation used by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) at N644,805,953.10, among others.