The Federal Government has disclosed that the recent frequent collapses of the national power grid are largely due to poor maintenance practices, outdated equipment, and insufficient resources. The government’s statement follows the latest grid collapse, marking the tenth such incident in 2024 alone.
According to reports, the statement was made a day after the most recent failure, with Nafisatu Asabe Ali, the Chair of the committee tasked with investigating the grid failures, presenting her findings. The report was delivered at the Ministry headquarters in Abuja, where Ali confirmed that excessive voltage beyond the capacity of the equipment was a primary factor leading to blackouts on October 14 and 19, 2024.
Ali explained that the investigative team had identified similar issues affecting all power stations. She highlighted the findings for the October 14 and 19 failures, stating that these events were caused by malfunctioning lightning arrestors at the Jebba and Oshogbo transmission stations, as well as an explosion of a current transformer at Jebba Station.
Ali detailed the events: “For the incident on the 14th, the lightning arrestors in Jebba and Oshogbo were shattered. The one in Jebba was for the shunt reactor and was caused by high voltage. As a result, multiple 330kV lines tripped, which kept escalating until it became a major failure.”
Ali continued, stating, “The root cause of this was the unavailability of the second reactor in Jebba. Jebba’s location, due to the design of the network and the network’s topology, is very prone to high voltage. Before this event, there were two shunt reactors in Jebba, but one failed. That reactor was faulty, and this allowed the voltage to rise to about 400KV, exceeding the equipment’s threshold. High voltage degrades equipment insulation, and when equipment is exposed to high voltage over time, the insulation deteriorates, which can cause failures.”
She further revealed that the committee found the underlying causes to be aged equipment, particularly in Jebba, which was commissioned in 1968. Some of the equipment in the station has been in operation since that time, thus contributing to the deterioration. Maintenance culture was also identified as a significant issue, affecting the stability of the grid.
In addition to these findings, the committee pointed out several other contributing factors, such as vandalism of power infrastructure, the insufficient availability of governors at power generation facilities, disorganized maintenance schedules, and a lack of adequate human resources.
In response to these findings, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, stated that the ministry would seek additional funding from both the 2024 Supplementary Budget and the 2025 Appropriation Bill. This funding would aim to address the financial challenges required to implement strategies that can mitigate the ongoing grid failures and improve the power sector’s infrastructure. Adelabu expressed his personal concern about the repeated grid failures, describing them as regrettable. He emphasized the need for comprehensive reforms in the sector to ensure a more stable power grid moving forward.
Adelabu added that he planned to submit a revised report supporting his proposal to President Bola Tinubu, which would highlight the financial implications of the situation. He said, “Today’s meeting is to receive a report on the agency committee set up about two and a half weeks ago to reveal the root cause of the incessant grid disturbances we have experienced in the past few months. This is not good for us as a country, as a power sector, and as a ministry of power and other related agencies.”
The committee also made several recommendations, including the audit and testing of existing equipment, improvements in the maintenance of transmission equipment and lines, installation of harmonic filters by Disco and Genco customers, decentralization of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) central store, enforcement of Free Governor Mode of Operation, and removal of ad-lash taped optical fibre for Optical Ground Wires. These measures are expected to improve grid stability and prevent further disruptions.