- Minister of Power, Aliyu Abubakar, says vandalism caused the failure of the national grid.
- Nigeria loses 400MW of power generation due to vandalism.
The Minister of Power, Aliyu Abubakar, announced that vandals were responsible for a transmission tower interruption between Akwa Ibom and Cross River states, which led to the country’s energy grid collapsing twice in three hours.
The grid, which has been down about a half-dozen times this year, went down at about 6:30 p.m. on Friday and then again at 8:30 p.m.
According to the minister, “While the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and System Operator (the national grid’s operator) are conducting a detailed investigation into the immediate and remote causes of the recurring grid failures, the process of restoring supply is ongoing, with some sections of the national grid already energized and supply restored to consumers.” In shedding more light on the development, the statement continued: “Further to our earlier press release, we wish to apprise the general public that the immediate cause of the national blackout (system collapse) was an act of vandalism on a transmission tower on the Odukpani — Ikot Ekpene 330kV double circuit transmission line thus resulting in a sudden loss of about 400MW of generation. This led to a cascade of plants shut down across the country”.
While assuring Nigerians that the Federal Government was working diligently to implement much-needed reforms and investments, such as SCADA, which are critical to increasing the capacity and reliability of the national grid, Abubakar said the move was in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directives to close infrastructure deficits in critical sectors of the Nigerian economy.