The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), yesterday, succeeded in restoring the national grid after many hours of widespread power outage, which it attributed to “a sudden drop in system frequency, which created system instability.”
In a statement the TCN said: “The restoration of the affected part of the grid commenced immediately at 11.55 am with Osogbo/Ihovbor back to the grid followed by Jebba/Osogbo, Kainji/Jebba, Benin/Onisha, Shiroro/Kaduna, Shiroro/Katampe, and Alaoji/Ikot-Ekpene.
“Others are Lokoja/Gwagwalada, Odukpani/Ikot Ekpene, Benin/Omotosho, Oke-Aro/Ikeja west, Egbin/Oke-Aro and Kaduna/Kano.
“The National Control Centre (NCC) said a full-scale investigation is being conducted to establish and ascertain the cause of the partial disturbance as this unwholesome event has resulted in aggregated generation loss.”
Earlier on Monday, electricity distribution companies (DisCos) had informed their customers of the disruption of power, citing the collapse of the national grid.
Ikeja Electric had informed that the national grid collapsed at 10:50 am on Monday, noting that “this has affected the transmission stations within our network and resulted in the loss of power supply to our customers.”
This is just as the Eko DisCo “apologised for the inconvenience,” and assured that it was “working with our TCN partners to restore supply as soon as possible.”
Similarly, the Enugu DisCo had raised an alarm on the “loss of supply currently being experienced across the network,” while “awaiting detailed information of the collapse and restoration of supply from the National Control Centre (NCC), Osogbo.”
The National Control Centre (NCC) said a full-scale investigation is being conducted to establish and ascertain the cause of the partial disturbance as this unwholesome event has resulted in aggregated generation loss.
TCN sale
For decades, transmission was identified as the weakest link in Nigeria’s electricity supply industry, with this latest incident reported as the eighth time the grid would collapse in this year alone.
The incessant collapse of the national grid has heightened the call for the sale of TCN, the only division of the 18 unbundled Business Units under the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), which has not been privatised.
But the Federal Government has remained adamant and continues to hold on the TCN for strategic reasons.
To this effect, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), on Sunday dismissed a news publication alleging that “the Federal Government is currently gearing up to put the Transmission Company of Nigeria, up for Sale.”
The Bureau described the news as “completely false in all its ramifications,” and a mere fabrication by mischief makers aimed at creating room for another needless strike by electricity workers.”
A statement by the privatisation agency reads: “The actions of the Federal Government in the power sector are guided by well-articulated policy documents and extant legislations.
“It would be recalled that the Federal Government had in 2001 approved the Nigerian Electric Power Policy (NEPP) document. The NEPP formed the basis for the enactment of the Nigerian Electricity Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA), 2005. It would also be recalled that a RoadMap for the Reform of the power sector was issued in 2010.
“None of these documents envisaged the privatization of TCN and that was why a Management Contract was put in place to reorganize and optimize the operations of TCN during the 2013 privatization exercise.
“The Federal Government has not changed its policy nor amended the EPSRA as it relates to TCN.”
The Bureau therefore urged electricity sector workers and indeed the general public to completely ignore the publication.
