Nigeria: Blackout – National Grid Successfully Restored, Says Minister

We are dedicated to taking all necessary measures to ensure grid stability and reliability, closely monitoring the situation to prevent future disruptions,” the minister said.

The federal government on Thursday announced the successful restoration of the collapsed national electricity transmission grid across the country.

Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, announced the restoration in a series of tweets on his X handle on Thursday evening.

“I am delighted to announce the successful restoration of the national electricity transmission grid, thanks to the diligent efforts of our skilled engineers,” Mr Adelabu said.

He said normal power supply has been reinstated across the affected areas.

“We will maintain our round-the-clock efforts to address the root causes of the disruption and proactively resolve underlying issues, ensuring the smooth operation of the electricity grid.

We understand the inconveniences caused by the recent power outage and sincerely apologize for any disruptions you may have encountered during this period.

“Your patience and understanding have been greatly appreciated during the restoration process,” he said.

Mr Adelabu said the current state, strength, and capacity of the national grid may not be at the desired level, ongoing projects are actively working to improve, strengthen, and expand the grid infrastructure.

“New initiatives are also in progress. We are dedicated to taking all necessary measures to ensure grid stability and reliability, closely monitoring the situation to prevent future disruptions.

“Our commitment to delivering an enhanced power supply in the country remains unwavering. Thank you for your support,” the minister said.

Background
Nigerians were on Thursday morning thrown into darkness after the national grid system collapsed.

The system is operated by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) from Osogbo, Osun State.

Some of the nation’s electricity distribution companies confirmed that the grid collapsed in the early hours of Thursday, as most of their feeders were out.

The federal government said the collapse of the grid was caused by a fire outbreak on Kainji/Jebba 330kV line, leading to about 356.63MW generation loss.

The latest collapse is coming weeks after the TCN announced that the country’s power grid had maintained uninterrupted stability for over 400 consecutive days.

The TCN had in August said the Nigerian power grid has recorded an unparalleled period of stability in the history of the power sector, operating without any major disruptions or systems collapse for a span of 400 consecutive days.

“This milestone signifies a remarkable advancement in the nation’s efforts at strengthening its power infrastructure and ensuring a reliable and dependable electricity supply to distribution load centres for onward distribution to electricity customers nationwide,” the company said in a statement.

In recent years, the power sector has experienced many broad challenges related to electricity policy enforcement, regulatory uncertainty, gas supply, transmission system constraints, and major power sector planning shortfalls.

In 2022 alone, the country’s national grid collapsed eight times.