Nigeria’s national power grid has suffered another collapse, plunging parts of the country into darkness once more. This latest failure, reported on Tuesday, marks the 10th grid collapse this year, a series of outages that continues to strain daily life and economic activities nationwide.
As of 11 a.m. on Thursday, available power generation had dropped drastically, with only 2,323 megawatts of electricity from 22 power plants before plummeting to zero megawatts. The peak generation recorded earlier in the day reached 3,743 megawatts.
The Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company confirmed the outage to customers, stating: “We experienced a system outage today, November 7, 2024, at 11:29 hours, affecting supply within our network. Restoration efforts are underway in collaboration with stakeholders. We appreciate your patience during this time.”
The Transmission Company of Nigeria has not yet issued an official statement on this recent collapse, which highlights the ongoing challenges in achieving reliable power distribution across the nation.
READ ALSO : National grid faces another collapse as power woes continue
Earlier in 2024, Nigeria’s first major outage took place on February 4, when grid capacity fell from 2,407 MW to a mere 31 MW, resulting in a total shutdown by 1 PM.
In response to these recurring issues, Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu recently highlighted the necessity of decentralizing Nigeria’s power system. Adelabu, while unveiling the Hexing Livoltek electricity meter plant in Lagos, expressed that multiple regional grids are essential to prevent widespread outages. “Today, the entire nation relies on one national grid, meaning any disturbance affects all 36 states. By establishing regional or state grids, outages could be isolated,” Adelabu said.
This grid decentralization initiative is enabled by the 2023 Electricity Act, signed by President Bola Tinubu. The Act permits local and state governments to independently manage generation, transmission, and distribution, potentially paving the way for more resilient power infrastructure.
The House of Representatives has also stepped in, mandating an investigation into the frequency of these grid failures. During a recent session, Hon. Mansur Manu Soro (PDP, Bauchi) urged the committee on power to address the grid instability, stressing the essential role of reliable electricity in Nigeria’s economic development.
The repeated collapses continue to frustrate Nigerians as authorities seek solutions to this persistent problem.
Credible News.ng
