Adelabu: Damaged electricity transmission line in the north will soon be restored

Adebayo Adelabu, minister of power, says the damaged transmission line that led to blackout in northern Nigeria will soon be restored.

Speaking to journalists on Monday after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu, Adelabu said security has been strengthened to allow the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to carry out repairs, with support from the office of the national security adviser (ONSA) and military officials.

On October 22, TCN reported power outage in the north-east, north-west and parts of north-central after 330-kilovolt (kV) Ugwaji–Apir double circuit transmission lines 1 and 2 tripped.

Also, TCN said the Shiroro-Kaduna line was vandalised, leading to a reduction of bulk electricity to Kaduna, Kano and other major cities in the north.

Two days later, TCN said a snapped 330kv transmission line in the swampy forest of Igumale, Benue state, led to the blackout.

On Monday, TCN said insecurity delayed repair, but it is working tirelessly to restore the bulk power supply.

Earlier, Tinubu directed TCN to hasten repair and mandated Nuhu Ribadu, the national security adviser (NSA) to provide security.

Adelabu said the root cause is vandalisation of the transmission lines of Shiroro-Kaduna line.

“We discussed the root cause of this, which was basically due to vandalization of the transmission lines of Shiroro Kaduna line, which is the major line that supply electricity to the north, and the transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, are already set out to fix this line,” he said.

“What they have asked for, which has been provided to them now, is the security cover of the National Security Advisor through the chief of army staff and Chief of Air Staff to enable them restore the damaged line. And we are optimistic that very soon this will be fully restored.”

Adelabu also said alternative solutions include utilising the Ikot Ekepene substation from the Calabar plant, and an upgrade to the Shiroro-Kaduna line, which he said is one of Nigeria’s oldest transmission lines.

“We have also explored the alternative line of providing light to the north through the Ikot Ekepene substation supplied from the Calabar plant, but the line got cut along the line, and we are also trying to fix that,” the minister said.

“And if you remember that at the last FEC one of the approvals for the ministry of power was actually the upgrade of the Siroro Kaduna transmission line, which is the major line that supply electricity to the northern part of the country. 

“We already have approval for this. It is one of the oldest transmission lines that we have in Nigeria, and we believe that it requires an upgrade. And through the magnanimity of Mr President and the Federal Executive Council, we got an approval to fix the line on a permanent basis. 

“Once this is done, I believe that power to the North will be more stable than we’re experiencing right now.”

PROVISION OF SOLAR ENERGY TO 20 STATES

Adelabu proposed a distributed power model that would provide each northern state with solar energy sources.

“Before I end this, let me also state that the world is moving this is the 21st century, and we believe that the most effective way of supplying uninterrupted, functional, stable and reliable electricity to the northern part of Nigeria is through our distributed power model, whereby each of the northern states will have an embedded utility, solar scale, solar source,” he said. 

“All the 20 states will be insulated and immune from each other, actually made progress in this as we have interested contractors and financiers that are ready to install 100 megawatt each for each of the 20 northern states, which is scalable to 50 megawatts at first, then upgraded to 100 megawatt”.

Adelabu also assured that talks are on with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to address consumer grievances regarding recent power outages, particularly for those in Band A tariff categories.

The minister said he will meet with Sanusi Garba, NERC’s chairman, and electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to discuss compensation measures.

He said for those days consumers suffered blackout, “there should not be billing of any sort, for any customer, be it household, office consumer or industrial consumer, they will be immune for billing for those periods”.

Adelabu also said protecting the national grid and avoiding further vandalisation, requires collective efforts.