Minister: Unstable power supply caused by system disturbance NOT grid collapse

Goddy Agba, minister of state for power, says epileptic power supply experienced across the country is caused by system disturbances and disruptions and not necessarily national grid collapse.

Agba said this on Thursday at the investigative hearing of the house of representatives committee on power in Abuja.

According to NAN, the investigation was a sequel to a perceived recurrent national grid collapse leading to incessant power outages.

The minister told the committee that there had not been a single system collapse in 2022.

He also said the power disruptions being experienced were caused either by human, equipment or political factors.

He added that blackouts experienced in September, in particular, were acts of sabotage.

“In September, there was a blackout nationwide for a short while and some youths were seen on social media switching off the system,” he said.

“That was not a system collapse. That was deliberate vandalism. In fact, it was sabotage.

“How can young men go and switch off the light, thereby putting the nation in blackout just because of some grudges.”

According to Agba, the blackout began from a trade union matter in the power supply structure, and he was already handling the situation.

On his part, Sule Abdul’aziz, managing director, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), said total system disturbances declined between 2017 and 2021.

Abdul’aziz said there had been significant and sustained improvement in grid stability with every passing year.

On her part, Joy Ogaji, executive secretary, Association of Power Generation Companies, said the problem of epileptic power supply is attributed to obsolete infrastructure and excessive volatile load.

Ogaji said another reason for incessant outages is weak transmission infrastructure, adding that most of the equipment are over 25 years old.

“The instability and unavailability of most transmission lines are other problems,” she said.

She also said noticeable improvement in power supply to the fact that generation companies’ machines were now being used to manage the grid, contrary to the grid code provision.

She added that 97 percent of the time, the grid was on high frequencies.

Responding to their submissions, Sada Soli, representing the All Progressive Congress, Katsina, expressed dissatisfaction with the explanations given by the respondents.

According to the committee member, none of the submissions suggested how to solve the problems in the power sector.

Also, Magaji Aliyu, chairman of the committee, said it would constitute a technical committee to compile a report and make recommendations to prevent future power outages.