CITIZENS COMPASS— The Nigerian Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, on Saturday, assured Nigerians that electricity supply will begin to improve within the next 48 to 72 hours.
Tegbe said the Nigerian government is working to address the challenges responsible for recent power outages in some parts of the country.
The minister attributed the worsening electricity situation to scheduled maintenance at Egbin Power Station in Lagos, inadequate gas supply to some thermal power plants and the sabotage of critical transmission lines.
Tegbe gave the assurance in a statement titled “Update on Power Situation”, posted on his social media handles.
He acknowledged the hardship caused by prolonged electricity disruptions, particularly for households and businesses in four affected states, including Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory.
“I am aware of the strain that the current outages have placed on households and businesses in four affected states, including Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory,” he said.
According to him, planned maintenance at Egbin Power Station, which supplies approximately 16 per cent of electricity on the national grid, combined with gas supply constraints affecting some thermal power stations, has reduced available electricity generation.
He explained that the shortfall had forced grid operators to implement load shedding in some areas to manage the limited electricity available.
Tegbe also identified the sabotage of critical transmission lines as another factor affecting electricity distribution, particularly in Lagos, where damaged infrastructure had restricted alternative routes for power supply.
The minister said the Nigerian government was working with relevant power sector operators to restore affected generating units in phases, improve gas supply and accelerate repairs to damaged infrastructure.
“My team and I are working to return the affected generating units to service in phases, with the first units coming back online within the next 48 to 72 hours.
“We are also working with operators to improve gas supply and accelerate repairs to the damaged infrastructure,” he added.
Meanwhile, the worsening power situation has triggered a disagreement between the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Ikeja Electric over the causes of recent electricity interruptions.
TCN, in a statement on Friday, rejected Ikeja Electric’s explanation that outages recorded on November 3 and 4 were caused by grid instability.
The transmission company attributed the decline in electricity available for distribution to inadequate gas supply to thermal power stations and reduced hydroelectric generation.
It described Ikeja Electric’s explanation as inaccurate and misleading, insisting that the distribution company had wrongly attributed generation-related shortages to the transmission network.
“TCN can only transmit the energy made available to it and cannot transmit energy that is not generated,” the company said.
TCN also maintained that the Nigerian Independent System Operator had not identified any failure of its transmission network as the cause of the outages.
According to the transmission company, 68 per cent of interruptions recorded on feeders supplying Ikeja Electric resulted from frequency-control load shedding caused by low electricity generation.
It attributed another 26 per cent to Ikeja Electric’s alleged failure to comply with load allocations, alongside faults and maintenance on its distribution network.
The remaining six per cent, according to TCN, resulted from its planned maintenance, switching operations and line limitations.
The disagreement followed an apology by Ikeja Electric to customers on some Band A feeders after the company failed to meet the minimum daily electricity supply requirement of 20 hours on November 3 and 4.
The minister had earlier attributed the electricity disruptions to maintenance and operational challenges across the power sector, gas shortages at thermal power stations and reduced output from hydropower plants.
He said the Nigerian government was engaging TCN, NISO and electricity distribution companies to address the challenges and restore normal electricity supply.
Tegbe thanked the affected electricity consumers for their patience and promised to provide further updates as efforts to improve supply progress.
