Just two days ago, our Nigerian superstars, Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun popularly known as Wizkid, and Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu also known as Burna Boy, made the country proud by winning their first Grammies at the 2021 Grammy awards ceremony. The entire entertainment industry has been bursting with joy. Unfortunately, this is not the same case with our electricity sector, which would make one wonder when our electricity industry would be as bright as our stars.
During the evening hours of the thirteenth of March, 2021, which was the day of the ceremony, some parts of the franchise areas of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) were without electricity. The blackout which affected the areas namely, Jikwoyi, Karu in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and Lafia in Nassarawa state, was stated by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to have been caused by the annual maintenance in one of the transformers at the Gwagwalada substation.
However, the AEDC blamed the blackout on a faulty transmission line at Apo. The blackout, which lasted until the early hours of the fifteenth of March, prevented some Nigerians from watching something that can easily be categorized as a proud moment for all Nigerians.
This brings up questions such as, when will the blame game in the Nigerian electricity sector end? When will the sector become a big player in the African electricity market? When will the electricity industry finally be as bright as our stars?