National Grid collapses again, plunging Nigeria into darkness

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By Our Reporter

The National Grid has once again collapsed, leaving the country in darkness and raising further concerns over the state of the nation’s power infrastructure.

October has seen multiple grid failures, with the Federal Government vowing to find a permanent solution to this ongoing issue. As of 2:35 PM today, generation reports revealed that no Power Generation Company was producing any megawatts of electricity.

On Saturday, October 19, 2024, the national grid suffered its eighth collapse of the year, with three failures occurring within a single week. Just two days later, the grid failed again. The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) attributed this second failure to a fire outbreak at the Jebba transmission station.

TCN has reported a total of 105 grid collapse incidents. TCN’s General Manager of Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, highlighted that between 2020 and the present, there has been a significant reduction in grid disturbances. “From 2020 to date, we’ve recorded 14 total and six partial grid disturbances, amounting to 20, which represents a 76.47% decrease compared to the 85 disturbances reported between 2015 and 2019,” Mbah explained.

Adebayo Adelabu, the Minister of Power, has blamed the frequent grid failures on outdated infrastructure, underscoring the urgent need for modernization. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has expressed concern over the rising number of grid disturbances, which often result in widespread outages across several states, undermining progress in improving grid stability and reducing infrastructure deficits.

As of now, TCN has not provided an explanation for the most recent grid collapse.