System operators have gradually been restoring power since Saturday, April 9, even as the Minister of Power, faults the grid collapse to vandalism.
The national grid had collapsed on Friday, April 8, around 6:30pm, causing nationwide power outage.
According to Minister Aliyu Abubakar, who gave a statement through his spokesperson, Isa Sanusi, vandals were responsible for a disruption of the transmission tower between Akwa Ibom and Cross River states, a development that led to the collapse of the country’s electricity grid twice within three hours.
“While a detailed investigation into the immediate and remote causes of the recurring grid failure is currently ongoing by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and System Operator (the operator of the national grid), the process of restoring supply is ongoing with some sections of the national grid already energised, and supply restored to consumers.
“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 consequently led to a cascade of plants shut down across the country.
“We wish to notify the public that power on the grid is being restored sequentially by the system operator as other on-grid power plants are being dispatched to cover the lost generation capacity from the Calabar power plant owned by the Niger Power Holding Company Ltd,” the statement read.
Following the restoration of the grid, the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) has informed its customers that supply power is being restored gradually to areas within their network.
Other distribution companies should also restore power gradually.
