The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors has attributed the continuous breakdown of Nigeria’s national grid, which has experienced 105 failures in the last 10 years to insufficient investments and maintenance.
The Chief Executive Officer of ANED who also serves as the spokesperson for all Distribution Companies (DISCOs), Sunday Odutan, said that grid failures will continue without immediate government intervention.
He pointed out that a load drop caused by a transformer explosion at the 330kV Jebba Transmission Station led to a recent collapse, which disrupted the system.
Odutan noted that the grid has failed 105 times over the past decade, adding that the recent collapse was caused by the blast at Jebba and will persist if there is no adequate funding.
According to him, subsequent administrations have paid little attention to the power industry, prioritizing talk over actual measures.
Within the last 10 months, the power grid has malfunctioned more than 8 times, causing long-lasting power outages nationwide. On the 19th of October 2024, Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu, and Kano experienced their third blackout in a week due to another system failure.
Odutan cautioned that if there are no substantial investments in infrastructure and a sense of urgency from the government and stakeholders, the grid’s instability will continue to be a long-lasting issue.
“If we don’t tackle this problem quickly, the national grid will keep on failing,” he added.
