The Federal Government has identified poor maintenance practices, outdated equipment, and several other challenges as the primary reasons behind the frequent collapses of the national power grid in recent months.
The government attributed the power blackout on October 14 and 19, 2024, to equipment failures caused by high voltage levels that exceeded the grid’s capacity.
The Chairperson of the investigative committee examining the national grid’s failures, Nafisatu Asabe Ali, presented the committee’s findings during a report at the Ministry of Power’s headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.
This disclosure came just a day after the latest grid collapse, marking the 10th such incident in 2024 alone.
Ali revealed that the committee’s investigation uncovered consistent issues affecting power stations across the country.
Specifically, the October grid failures were linked to the destruction of lightning arrestors at both the Jebba and Oshogbo transmission stations, as well as the explosion of a Current Transformer at the Jebba station.
“The lightning arrestors at Jebba and Oshogbo shattered during the event on October 14. The one in Jebba, which was meant for the shunt reactor, failed due to high voltage,” Ali explained. “This triggered the tripping of multiple 330kV lines, escalating the situation into a major failure.”
She further noted that the root cause of this incident was the absence of a backup reactor at Jebba. The station’s second reactor had malfunctioned, leaving the grid vulnerable to a high-voltage surge. “Jebba’s location and network design make it prone to high voltage issues. When one reactor failed, voltage levels soared to 400KV, which exceeded the equipment’s capacity and led to insulation degradation,” Ali explained.
According to the committee’s findings, Jebba’s power station has been in operation since 1968, and many of its components are long past their intended lifespan. Ali highlighted that this age and the lack of proper maintenance practices contributed to the grid’s frequent breakdowns.
“Aged equipment and poor maintenance culture are the underlying issues,” she stressed.
Other contributing factors identified by the committee include vandalism of power infrastructure, the absence of free governors at power generation plants, uncoordinated maintenance schedules, and inadequate human resources to manage the system effectively.
In response, Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu assured that the ministry would seek additional funding in the 2024 Supplementary Budget and the 2025 Appropriation Bill to address the financial challenges posed by the proposed solutions.
Adelabu expressed his concern about the recurrent grid collapses, which have been damaging to the country’s power sector. “This persistent grid collapse is not only troubling but personally worrisome for me as the Minister of Power,” he said.
The Minister remained optimistic that these issues could be addressed through comprehensive reforms.
He mentioned that he would submit an amended report to President Tinubu to support his case for the necessary financial resources.
“Today’s meeting is a vital step in understanding the root causes of the disruptions. These grid failures are damaging to the country, the power sector, and the ministry,” he added.
The investigative committee also made several key recommendations to prevent further disruptions.
These include conducting audits and tests of existing equipment, improving maintenance of transmission equipment and lines, installing harmonics filters by Distribution Companies and Generation Companies, decentralizing the Transmission Company of Nigeria central store, enforcing the Free Governor Mode of Operation, and removing faulty optic fibre used for Optical Ground Wires.
The report and its recommendations mark a critical step in addressing Nigeria’s power grid challenges, with the government and the Ministry of Power taking proactive measures to implement these changes in the near future.
