The Federal Government stated yesterday that there is no immediate end in sight to the frequent collapses of the national electricity grid.
During his appearance before the Senate Committee on Power, led by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, to defend the 2025 budget, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, acknowledged that the national grid remains highly vulnerable to frequent collapses. He explained that this vulnerability is partly due to the ongoing insecurity in the Northern region, which has hindered the repair of a critical transmission line.
While admitting that grid collapses are likely to persist, the minister assured that the government is focused on reducing their frequency and ensuring quicker restoration times. He also highlighted vandalism as one of the major challenges facing the power sector.
Adelabu revealed plans to invest N36 billion in distributing transformers across the six geopolitical zones of the country to improve power distribution infrastructure and address systemic issues in the sector. He also announced that the Federal Government is set to begin Phase 1 of a major overhaul of five substations nationwide. Additionally, he noted that over seven million customers are still subject to estimated billing.
He said failure to fix the Shiroro-Kaduna-Mando line has placed undue pressure on the grid, resulting in frequent collapses.
“We recognize the issues with full or partial grid collapses, but our focus is on reducing the time it takes to restore power. We are actively collaborating with security agencies to achieve this.’’ Adelabu also highlighted the impact of the damaged Shiroro-Kaduna-Mando line which had been out of service since a vandalism incident in October 2024.
The minister, who noted that this failure has placed immense pressure on the grid, leading to frequent collapses, said: “The Kaduna-Shiroro-Mando line was one of the two major lines transmitting power to the north.
‘’The second, the Ugwuaji-Makurdi line, was also vandalized but has been repaired. The Shiroro-Mando-Kaduna line, however, remains down due to insecurity. This is why our grid is so fragile, as it relies on a single line, causing unnecessary strain.”
He emphasized that while grid collapses are expected to continue, the government is focused on reducing their frequency and ensuring quick restoration times, just as he underscored that collaboration, especially with the office of the National Security Adviser, is critical to addressing vandalism, which remains one of the most significant challenges facing the power sector.
Adelabu, who decried the fact that the government was struggling to manage the grid it inherited, since it is very old and dilapidated, however, informed the lawmakers that the national grid suffered eight collapses in 2024, not 12 as widely reported, out of which three were partial collapses as a result of generation problems.
He said: “I’m happy to also inform you that out of the eight collapses of the national grid that we experienced during 2024, five were full collapses, while three were partial collapses.
‘’Of the five full collapses that we experienced, three were actually due to generation problems. We had issues with cellular reduction in generation compared to the power being taken up by the user, which affected the frequent imbalance on the grid. Two collapses were actually from vandalism problems.”
