The Chairman of the investigative committee looking into the causes of Nigeria’s frequent power grid collapses, Nafisatu Asabe Ali, has pointed to a combination of factors, including aging infrastructure, poor maintenance practices, and inadequate equipment, as the primary reasons for the ongoing disruptions in the national electricity grid.
Ali presented the committee’s findings at the Ministry of Power’s headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday, November 6. According to her, high voltage levels exceeding equipment capacity were responsible for the blackouts experienced on October 14 and 19, 2024. She noted that the committee’s investigation revealed similar technical challenges across various power stations.
The report highlighted the specific incidents of grid failure, citing damaged lightning arrestors at the Jebba and Oshogbo transmission stations and the explosion of a current transformer (CT) at Jebba as contributing to both blackouts. Ali explained, “On October 14, the lightning arrestors in Jebba and Oshogbo broke down. The one in Jebba was linked to the shunt reactor, and it was caused by excessive voltage. This led to the tripping of several 330kV lines, which eventually escalated into a major outage.”
The committee also found that the Jebba substation, commissioned in 1968, faced additional challenges due to its aging equipment, some of which has been in use since the station’s inception. Ali explained that the unavailability of a second reactor at the Jebba station compounded the issue, as the voltage spiked to 400kV—well above the equipment’s safe operating limit. “Prolonged exposure to high voltage weakens the insulation on electrical equipment, increasing the risk of failure,” she said.
The committee’s report also cited other contributing factors, such as frequent vandalism of power infrastructure, disorganized maintenance schedules, lack of spare governors at power plants, and a shortage of skilled personnel.
In response to the findings, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, pledged to seek additional funding in both the 2024 Supplementary Budget and the 2025 Appropriation Bill to address the financial challenges associated with implementing the necessary reforms. Adelabu expressed his concern over the persistent grid failures, calling them a serious issue and affirming his commitment to pushing for systemic changes. “The frequent collapse of the grid is troubling, and it’s a priority for us to introduce far-reaching reforms to tackle this problem,” he stated.
The Minister also mentioned that an amended report would be submitted to President Bola Tinubu to highlight the financial requirements needed to resolve the issues and improve the grid’s reliability.
