By John Ikani
Nigeria’s National grid collapsed again on Friday evening, leading to blackouts in Nigeria’s major cities.
Some power distribution companies confirmed the development in separate messages on Friday evening.
in a statement, Abdulazeez Abdullahi, Head of Corporate Communication, Kaduna Electric, said the grid collapsed at 6:29pm.
“Dear Esteemed Customers, the management of Kaduna Electric regrets to inform you that the current outage being experienced in our franchise states is due to a collapse of the national grid,” the statement reads.
“The collapse occurred at about 18:29 pm this evening. Normal power supply shall be restored as soon as the grid is restored.
“We sincerely apologise for all inconveniences.”
Similarly, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company stated that the collapse had resulted in power outage in its area of operation, which covered about five states.
In a tweet via its official Twitter handle, the AEDC said, “Please be informed that there has just been a national grid collapse causing an outage in our franchise areas.
“We apologise for the inconvenience caused and appeal that you bear with us while we await restoration from the TCN (Transmission Company of Nigeria). We regret all inconvenience caused.”
What you should know
This is the third time the grid had collapsed within the space of one month.
The grid had collapsed on March 14 at 10:40am leading to power outage across the country.
Barely 48 hours later, the grid collapsed again on March 15, resulting in blackout in communities across states.
The Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, blamed the constant collapse on poor maintenance and shortage of gas. He, however, said the government had upgraded four power plants as part of efforts to improve the sector.
Aside the grid collapse, Nigerians witness insufficient electricity supply with millions of homes in darkness. This is because the nation generates less than 20 per cent of the electricity it needs and can’t even transmit and effectively distribute the little it generates.
