National grid collapses again, blackout looms

The national power grid has collapsed again on Wednesday. 

The Eko Electricity Distribution Company confirmed that the grid collapse occurred at about 11:27 am.

“Dear customers, we regret to inform you of a system collapse on the national grid at precisely 11:27 am today, Wednesday, July 20. We are in talks with the Transmission Company of Nigeria to ascertain the cause of the collapse and a possible restoration timeline.

“We will keep you updated on the situation,” the Disco said via its Twitter handle on Wednesday.

The collapse is expected to, as usual, halt electricity supplies to some parts of the country.

Nigeria’s power grid had collapsed twice in March and twice again in April this year, as the power generation on the system had continued to fluctuate due to various concerns such as gas constraints, water management challenges, and gas pipeline vandalism, among others.

In June, the National Grid collapsed for the fifth time this year resulting in nationwide power outage.

The Minister of Power, Engr. Abubakar Aliyu had last month attributed the low electricity supply across the country to gas supply challenges.

The Minister in a statement by his media aide, Malam Isa Sanusi explained that the “dip in electricity generation is as a result of the partial shutdown of the Oben gas plant to address the repair of critical gas processing equipment”.

The government noted that the “incident unfortunately occurred at a time when other power plants on other gas sources are undergoing planned maintenance and capacity testing.

“We wish to notify the public that Seplat Energy Plc has mobilized equipment, material and personnel to site with a view to expediting the restoration of normal gas supply to the affected power plants.