Nigerian Government Gives Update On Nationwide Blackout That Occurred Yesterday

Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, on Wednesday announced that the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN ) and the Generation Companies (GENCOS) were working to restore the technical hitches recorded in the national transmission grid.

A statement from the management of the ministry indicated that the Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company Ltd (NGPTC) had reported a fire incident on its Escravos Lagos Pipeline system near Okada, Edo on January 2.

The incident, it explained, required a shutdown of the pipeline supplying gas to Egbin 1,320MW; Olorunsogo NIPP 676MW, Olorunsogo 338MW, Omotosho NIPP 450MW, Omotosho 338 MW and Paras 60MW power stations.

It said the sudden loss of generation due to interruption in gas supply from the stations caused the national transmission grid to trip off around 8:20 am on Tuesday.

It expressed regrets at the trip off, given the sustained period of increasing production and distribution of power since September 2017 to date.

The statement added that, “once the national grid is restored, output from the hydroelectric power stations and all other unaffected gas fired thermal power stations will be increased”.

This, it said, would minimise the impact of loss of generation from the affected power stations.