Vandalisation Of Power Lines Caused Electricity Grid Collapse — Minister

The Federal Government has blamed the latest collapse of electricity grid on vandalisation of power lines.

Minister of Power, Mr Abubakar Aliyu, disclosed this in a statement signed by his Special Adviser (Media) Isa Sanusi.

His words: “Further to our earlier press release, we wish to apprise the general public that the immediate cause of 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 minister said the federal government is probing the immediate and remote causes of the recurring grid failure in the country.

He said the process of restoring power supply is ongoing following the national grid collapse at 6.30 p. m. on Friday.

A statement by Sanusi noted that some sections of the national grid had been energised already and supply restored to consumers.

“We wish to notify the general public of the incidence of a system collapse which occurred at 18:30hrs on April 8, resulting in power outages in many parts of the country.

“A detailed investigation into the immediate and remote causes of the recurring grid failure is currently ongoing by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and System Operator of the national grid.

“We wish to assure Nigerians that the Federal Government is working assiduously to deliver on the much-needed reforms and investments,” he said.

Sanusi said the reforms included Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and other investment that are critical to improving the capacity and reliability of the national grid.

He said that the reform was in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive on closing infrastructure deficits in critical sectors of the Nigerian economy.