MOST Nigerian cities are plunged into total darkness as the national power grid experienced another collapse on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, marking the ninth time of such an experience this year.
The development has further raised questions about obsolete Nigeria’s grid infrastructure which the federal government has also admitted is not serving its purpose optimally.
According to data from the Nigerian System Operator’s portal, generation dropped to an unprecedented zero megawatts from 2:00 pm, affecting all 22 operational generation companies (GenCos) nationwide.
This latest blackout is another blow to Nigeria’s struggling power sector, which has been plagued by instability, insufficient capacity, and frequent grid disturbances.
This most recent collapse adds to an increasingly alarming trend.
The first major blackout of the year occurred on February 4, 2024, when the grid’s capacity plummeted from 2,407 megawatts to a mere 31 megawatts by midday, hitting zero shortly after.
Since then, the grid has continued to falter, with subsequent breakdowns on August 5 and three times in October.
Notably, the October 14 collapse was followed by a partial failure the next day, and another disturbance occurred on October 19, narrowly avoiding a complete collapse.
Consequently, the general manager of public affairs at the Transmission Company of Nigeria(TCN), Ndidi Mbah, confirmed the collapse, noting that the national grid experienced a partial disturbance at about 1:52 pm.
The transmission company said the collapse was triggered by a series of lines and generator trippings that caused instability of the grid and, consequently, the partial disturbance of the system. The data from the National Control Centre (NCC) revealed that a part of the grid was not affected by the bulk power disruption.
The company noted that the in-house engineers are already working to quickly restore bulk power supply to the states affected by the partial disturbance.
“Presently, bulk power supply has been restored to Abuja, at 2.49 pm, and we are gradually restoring to other parts of the country,” the company said.
Meanwhile, an industry analyst has blamed obsolete and decayed transmission infrastructure as the major cause of frequent collapses.
“The transmission infrastructure is obsolete and decayed infrastructure. TCN needs to take its maintenance activities seriously and not wait until there’s a crisis for them to be giving excuses for Nigerians, “a power sector governance expert and the president of Nigeria’s consumer protection network,Kunle Kola Olubiyo told The ICIR.
The ICIR reported in October that the national power grid collapsed for the third time in just one week.
The outages have heightened frustrations nationwide, with businesses, households, and essential services struggling under the country’s unreliable electricity supply.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.