Eneh Oluchi Nora, Jadetimes Staff
E.O. Nora is a Jadetimes news reporter covering Business news
It has been a massive turnaround for Nigeria's energy sector, as the country plunged into darkness again with another national power grid collapse. This incident happened in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, November 7, 2024, and was yet another hit that Africa's largest economy had to take amidst a series of failures within these years.
The Incident
In a statement, the Transmission Company of Nigeria explained that the sudden collapse was total, affecting all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. While efforts are being made to determine the immediate cause, preliminary reports suggest that the collapse may have been caused by technical faults at the transmission infrastructure. Key sectors of health, manufacturing, telecommunications, and banking were brought to a standstill.
Businesses that required up-to-the-minute power supply were forced to either shut down for the time being or resort to alternative and expensive sources of energy, such as generators.
Impact on Daily Life
Millions of Nigerians woke up to a day of disruption: household reports of spoiled perishable goods and hospitals switching to backup power sources to keep critical medical equipment running. In Lagos, the country's economic hub, already bad traffic gridlocks worsened with traffic lights out of order.
Worst hit were small and medium-sized enterprises, which are the backbone of Nigeria's economy. Many business owners lamented the additional financial burden of fueling generators amidst an on-the-increase cost of living and acute fuel scarcity.
Response of Authorities
The Federal Government later explained the situation through the Ministry of Power and promised the public that efforts are being intensified to restore power as soon as possible. In a press statement, Minister of Power, Dr. Adebayo Adekunle, said:
"We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused and are working day and night to locate the fault and put in place measures that will make such incidents minimal in the future. We're committed to making the national grid more reliable."
The TCN added that it has commenced load-shedding measures to stabilize the grid as power generation companies, popularly called GenCos, gradually ramp up operations.
Recurring Issue
It is also not the first time Nigeria's power grid has collapsed this year. Experts suggest the repeated failures have to do with systemic challenges that include outdated infrastructure, inadequate investment in maintaining the infrastructure, and lack of an effective mix of energy sources.
According to Dr. Funmi Adesina, an energy policy analyst:
"The national grid operates on a fragile network that cannot support the slightest imbalance. The frequency and prevalence of grid collapses will continue to reoccur until such a time when Nigeria is able to invest in bringing its transmission and distribution infrastructure up to modern standard."
The Way Forward
Nigeria, despite having abundant natural resources, has for many years been struggling with energy generation and its distribution. Stakeholders have been calling for more investment in renewable sources of energy and in decentralized systems of power to cut overdependence on the national grid.
And with the country reeling from the immediate effects of this collapse, questions remain over the long-term solution for the power sector. For most Nigerians, it is a hope that these promises translate into actionable reforms which finally end the cycle of blackout.
For now, though, the nation waits in the dark-literally yearning for a brighter and more sustainable energy future.
