Blackout in North: Power Minister Meets Senate, Says Sabotage, Vandalisation Responsible 

The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, has attributed the current blackout in the northern part of the country to sabotage and vandalisation of the infrastructure of the ministry and not grid collapse.

The Minister spoke on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Power at the National Assembly in Abuja.

He told the lawmakers that urgent measures must be taken to secure the nation’s assets from being ruined by bandits and terrorists.

He also said that serious efforts are on going to restore electricity to the north and this would be achieved within 72 hours.

He also informed the lawmakers that the ministry is working in collaboration with the National Security Adviser and other security agencies to ensure that normalcy is restored.

“What we are witnessing, particularly with regard to the power situation in the north is unfortunate but worrisome. I also want to inform you that is far from grid collapse but purely sabotage and vandalisation. The transmission line that takes power to the north was destroyed by bandits and terrorists and what can we do about that? It has happened before that this same line that transmits power from Shiroro to Mando and Kaduna was vandalised and we fixed it without anybody knowing about it. But this time around, it is extremely bad. The bandits also threatened our contractors, who were to fix the line back and that is why we sought the help of the NSA and other security agencies to get the line restored back.

“We have explored an alternative route, which is the Bauchi route and that one also was vandalised anyway but that is easier for us to deal with and that is why we can say that in two to three days, there will be electricity supply back to the north”, the Minister said.

He equally told the Senators that Nigeria must invest seriously in the power sector for the country to navigate out of its current crisis such as the incessant grid disturbances.

He also said the ministry is investing in solar energy option as an alternative to the grid.

“Beyond all these that we are saying, we need to be looking at alternative to power supply and the one that is most acceptable now is the solar power. All of the 20 states of the north are blessed with sun shine. So, solar is possible as we need just 10 hours of sun light for its effectiveness. We are exploring this and we are making progress with it. We have investors on ground who are working on 100 mw of power in each of the 20 states in the north. We are working to achieve this option”, he said.

Adelabu also disclosed to the lawmakers that the ministry is working to decentralise the grid system so that each of the states in the country would have its own grid.

“The world has moved beyond a centralised grid. We are regionalising the grid. One of the ways to achieve this is that a memo has been sent to Mr. President for him to approve of it. It will involve establishing what is called the ‘Super Grid’, as a back up grid and alternative way of passing power across to the various parts of the country. This will address the challenge that we are dealing with now as there will be two or three optional routes to transmit power.

“States will be able to have their own grid and generation will not be concentrated in a particular region by using thousands of kilometres of transmission lines to take power to other regions.

“If you look at our hydro power today, 80 per cent of it is in Niger State; Shiroro, Jebba, Kainji, and Zungeru and we can say that hundred per cent of it is in North Central. Again, if you look at the gas fired plants, 80 percent of it is located in the Niger Delta region of Port Harcourt, Cross Rivers, Edo, Delta, and a few in Ogun State that is Omotosho and Olorunsogo. Imagine the length of transmission lines to move power from Niger Delta to other parts of the country.

“We want to ensure that we regionalise the grid, where every state will have its power source. You will not need to take power from the Niger Delta to Maiduguri or from Niger State to Oyo. In this case, if there is a problem with the national grid, states will have a back up. This is the medium term solution we are looking at but the ultimate is the solar power solution”, the Minister said.

The Minister explained to the lawmakers that in most cases what happened to the grid was not a collapse but disturbance. He said there is no where in the world that this does not happen but how to deal and handle such is the main challenge.

“Grid disturbances are not new to us and we have also seen grid collapses in the past. There are a thousand and one reasons why a grid can collapse but we need what we call automation for managing and controlling it. We lack automation in controlling the frequencies. We are just installing it with the help of the World Bank.

“On October 14, 2024, we had a total grid collapse but it was restored within 2 to three hours. But what happened on Saturday October 19, 2024, was not a grid collapse. One of our transformers in Jebba, caught fire and so the grid had to be shut down so that it could be fixed. That particular transformer is 47 years old. It was installed in 1977, during the FESTAC 77.

“Nigerians must be told the truth. We have a grid that is over 50 years old and lack regular maintenance. These are the issues and the challenges we are dealing with. We have infrastructures that are obsolete, weak, and old and are regularly vandalised. Untill the entire network is fully revived and upgraded, grid disturbances is almost inevitable”, he said, as he attributed the relative stability in the power sector to the Presidential Power Initiative of President Tinubu.