The Nigerian Government, through the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), has announced an investigation into the recent power grid disturbances that occurred on Monday and Tuesday.
This comes as Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, sought to clarify the situation, asserting that there was no complete grid collapse, but rather a “trip-off.”
Despite ongoing restoration efforts, the power grid experienced another disturbance on Tuesday, leading to continued outages in various areas. TCN’s spokesperson, Ndidi Mbah, confirmed that recovery efforts had reached an advanced stage, ensuring that approximately 90 percent of substations nationwide were back online, including restoration of supply to the Abuja region and other key distribution centers.
Mbah noted that the partial disturbance did not impact the Ibom Gas generating station, which continued to supply power to regions in the South-South, including Eket, Ekim, Uyo, and the Itu 132kV transmission substations.
While TCN described Monday’s incident as a partial disturbance, Mbah highlighted that recovery efforts had begun immediately, with the Azura power station facilitating the initial blackstart. However, by 10:24 AM on Tuesday, the recovery process faced challenges, leading to a slight setback.
In an interview with journalists, Minister Adelabu emphasized that the situation did not constitute a grid collapse. “There was no grid collapse; there was a trip-off. When you talk of grid collapse, it involves 100 percent of our grid infrastructure. This incident was localized, affecting only certain lines, while major centers like Abuja, Lagos, and Ibadan remained operational and were restored within two hours,” he explained.
He further stated that grid disturbances are common globally due to various factors such as weather and infrastructure issues, but underscored the importance of a swift response. “What matters most is the rate of response to fix this. We responded promptly and brought the system back online,” Adelabu concluded, characterizing the incident as manageable.
