Everything is falling – Nigerians fume after 2nd national grid collapse in 24 hours
Nigerians are blazing with anger and frustration following the collapse of the national grid on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, the second occurrence in barely 24 hours.
The latest national grid collapse occurred at 09:17 on Tuesday, throwing several states into another power outage.
Supply from the grid abruptly dropped to 0MW across all regions at about 10 am, aggravating the anger of many Nigerians who have had to endure skeletal supply since the start of the week.
The first grid collapse had occurred at about 6:18 p.m. the previous day, resulting in a nationwide blackout.
Checks confirmed that power generation dropped from 3.87 gigawatts at 5 p.m. to 3.56GW at 6 p.m. and then to 0.00GW by 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Monday.
Confirming the latest national grid collapse in a statement Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKDC), informed customers that the incident had triggered the loss of power across its network.
“Dear Valued Customer, kindly be informed that there was a system collapse at 09:17hrs, which has resulted in a loss of power supply across our network.
“We are currently working with our partners and hope for a speedy restoration of the grid. We will keep you updated as soon as the power supply is restored,” the company stated.
Power supply was distributed across several Distribution Companies (DisCos), with Abuja allocated 44MW, Benin 35MW, Eko 62MW, Enugu 40MW, Ibadan 85MW, Ikeja 72MW, Jos 10MW, Kaduna 15MW, Kano 20MW, Port Harcourt 23MW, and Yola 11MW.
Nigerians react to national grid collapse
The second national grid collapse, which has raised serious concerns about the stability of the nation’s electricity supply infrastructure, has compounded the frustration of many Nigerians, especially at this time of economic depression.
The incident has rendered many households and businesses powerless amid the increasing price of petrol, the product that serves as the backbone for the alternative source of power for many citizens.
This has resulted in bitter complaints and an outpouring of anger by many citizens as the national grid has become a trending topic on various social media platforms.
Reacting in a post on his X on Tuesday, the African Action Congress (AAC) Presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Omoyele Sowore, highlighted the alleged collapse in different sectors of the country.
The NATIONAL ELECTRICAL GRID has COLLAPSED again,
The Nigerian ECONOMY has COLLAPSED, and the Nigerian Currency has COLLAPSED.
Nigeria’s health sector has COLLAPSED.
The Aviation sector has COLLAPSED.
The Security architecture has COLLAPSED The National Infrastructure has COLLAPSED.
The banking sector COLLAPSES every minute.
The Educational sector has COLLAPSED .
How many sectors need to COLLAPSE before we ACT?,” Sowore’s post read.
Below are reactions from other Nigerians on X;
”National grid has collapsed. The country is in darkness. A so-called giant of Africa. See what tribalism, corruption and inefficiency have done to Nigeria. Shameful!” wrote lawyer and activist Inibehe Effiong.
”Dollar no fall Fuel price no fall Food price no fall But National Grid dey fall, T-Pain jor nau,” said Malik.
”So everyone’s light went off all at the same time.
”Fuel – 1k plus and you might not see to buy self. Gas self don add money.
”Now national grid might have collapsed again.
”Impressive masterclass from Gotham man,’‘ @snrmanOA posted.
”National Grid collapsed. Fuel is N1k/litre. There’s fuel scarcity so people can’t even get fuel to use their generators. Country is in darkness. You cannot support this current administration and be a good person. It’s impossible,” @ChilotamOjukwu.
”Commending Minister of power for restoring national grid that collapses incessantly within 9hrs is unimaginable Like is that all it takes to be a minister of power? Oga” o said @BeeLon01
