The electricity network in Nigeria has experienced no less than 105 “disturbances” or instances of complete system failure in the last ten years.
Nevertheless, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has indicated that in recent times, the frequency of grid disruptions or system collapses has “steadily diminished, despite prevailing beliefs.”
In a social media announcement this week, TCN provided a detailed breakdown of the statistics from 2015 to the present.
“Between 2020 and the present (a span of five years), we documented fourteen complete and six partial grid disturbances, amounting to a total of twenty incidents. This marks a reduction of 76.47% in grid disturbances compared to the preceding five years (2015 to 2019), during which we encountered sixty-four complete and twenty-one partial grid disturbances, totaling eighty-five occurrences,” TCN reported.
TCN stated that the enhancement is “closely linked to the ongoing endeavors by the management, led by Eng Sule Abdulaziz, to systematically expand the grid and utilize in-house capabilities to address grid stability issues, pending the deployment of SCADA/EMS.”
The Minister of Electricity, Adebayo Adelabu, has revealed that Nigeria’s electricity generation has increased to 4,800MW, up from 4,200MW. He made the announcement during a visit to Ajah, Lagos State, to inaugurate a 63MVA, 132/33kV mobile substation. This initiative is part of phase 1 of the President’s energy initiative.
Electricity supply deficits in Nigeria exacerbated by acts of vandalism.
Nigeria has encountered at least six power outages since the start of the year. The latest incident took place in mid-April, when TCN verified that four generation companies reported zero MW generation.
Compounding the nation’s electricity supply woes, TCN disclosed in March that vandals had assaulted its electricity infrastructure for the fifth time since February.
Last year, TCN verified that vandals obliterated 109 transmission towers over nine months nationwide. In December, the World Bank highlighted that access to electricity remains “a substantial challenge in Nigeria,” with over 85 million people living without it as of 2021.