.as Minister pledges normalcy soon
Electricity consumers across the country have continued to groan under serious epileptic power outages caused by the collapse of the national grid
At best, they get epileptic power supply and crazy estimated bills. The intense, suffocating heat of the dry season, as well as the high cost of diesel which has made cost of production go high have made matters even worse.
Across the divide, the story and experiences appear the same but differ in magnitude.
Speaking to Daily Champion on Nigerians’ power dilemma, Mr. Jonathan Ibekwe, a businessman in Lagos said that the Discos has really failed Nigeria. He ask the government to declare state of emergency on power sector and find a lasting solution to the consistent power outage.
Also Mrs Foluke Adebayo who leaves in Ajao estate and runs an supermarket decried that she has been speeding a lot in diesel since Friday the grid collapsed. According to her’ we cant be running round the circle. Federal government must find a lasting solution to this power challenges.
She noted that it is a shame that after privatizing the power sector for several years ,Nigeria power sector is yet to stablise.
Also, stakeholders in the power sector has continued to call on government to do the needful as soon as possible.
It could be recalled that the national electricity grid collapsed again on Friday evening, making it the third time in the space of one month.
Some power distribution companies had confirmed the development in separate messages on Friday evening.
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company stated that the collapse of the grid resulted in power outages in its area of operation, which covered about five states.
Also, the Eko Electricity Distribution Company said the grid collapse affected its entire network.
Meanwhile, The process of restoring the power supply is ongoing following the national grid collapsed at 6.30 p. m. on Friday, says the Federal Government.
The Minister of Power, Mr Abubakar Aliyu, gave the assurance on weekend in a statement by Mr Isa Sanusi, his Special Adviser (Media).
Sanusi noted that some sections of the national grid had been energised already and supply restored to consumers.
“We wish to notify the general public of the incidence of a system collapse which occurred at 18:30hrs on April 8, resulting in power outages in many parts of the country.
“A detailed investigation into the immediate and remote causes of the recurring grid failure is currently ongoing by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and System Operator of the national grid.
“We wish to assure Nigerians that the Federal Government is working assiduously to deliver on the much-needed reforms and investments,” he said.
Sanusi said the reforms included Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and other investment that are critical to improving the capacity and reliability of the national grid.
He said the reform was in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive on closing infrastructure deficits in critical sectors of the Nigerian economy
