Nigerians are groaning again in darkness after the national electricity grid suffered a major failure on Wednesday, seizing power supply to homes amidst scorching weather conditions.
The situation is exposing companies, businesses, and individual users to economic difficulties, as many Nigerians question why the system continues to fail despite huge million dollars investment.
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According to sources, the grid, operated from Osogbo, Osun State by the government-owned Transmission Company of Nigeria was said to have collapsed on Wednesday.
Some utility companies had issued public notices about the inability to power consumers due to the challenge.
“We have been unable to serve our customers in Niger, Kogi, and Nasarawa states as well as a significant portion of the entire Federal Capital Territory,” a notice by the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company had said.
Urging the public for patience and promising to restore power across its franchise area as soon as there was an improvement in load allocation, AEDC said: “only 20MW has been allocated to AEDC as against the over 400MW that we have been receiving in recent times.”
Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), the umbrella body of distribution companies, had earlier blamed the situation on the obsolete, analog systems being used by the TCN.
The International Monetary Fund estimates that Nigeria’s economy loses about $29 billion a year because of electricity supply problems. Ninety percent of the industry provides its own power. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) says that roughly 40 percent of the cost of production goes to the power.
