Failing power grid signals urgent reforms

Eleven times this year, the country’s national grid has suffered collapse, repeatedly plunging the country into darkness. There is no other jarring evidence of the need for power reforms than this frequent shameful grid failure. President Bola Tinubu and the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, need to take the bull by the horns and urgently tackle this recurrent setback. Tellingly, the national grid suffered multiple collapses in October, with the Federal Government promising a permanent solution to the embarrassment. As of 2:35 p.m. on Tuesday, hourly generation readings showed that none of the Power Generation Companies had a single megawatt.
On Saturday, October 19, the national power grid suffered a major failure. This was the eighth grid failure in 2024, with three occurring within one week. Two days later, the grid failed again. According to data from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and other sources, the national grid collapsed approximately 93 times from June 2015 to May 2023 during Buhari’s eight-year rule.
The General Manager of Public Affairs of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, Ndidi Mbah, said, “Clearly, between 2020 to date, we recorded 14 total and six partial grid disturbances totalling 20, which represents a 76.47 per cent reduction in grid disturbance, when compared to the previous five years, (2015 to 2019) where we had 64 total and 21 partial grid disturbances, totalling 85 times.” This repeated excuse is unacceptable.
For a country with a humongous source of gas and solar energy and a vast network of rivers to generate hydropower, Nigeria’s inability to effectively supply electricity is caused by an interplay of corrupt, visionless and self-serving leadership. Despite the 10 loans worth $4.36 billion secured by Nigeria from the World Bank over the past decade, the key challenges in its power sector remain unsolved.
Adelabu had recently admitted that the deplorable state of the country’s power infrastructure makes grid collapse almost inevitable. “It will continue to remain like this until we can overhaul the entire infrastructure. What we do now is to make sure that we manage it,” he said.
Indeed, there is a need for complete reforms and overhaul of the outdated infrastructure. The regularity of the national grid collapse can be halted by adequately investing and upgrading the outdated components of the national grid which include the power substations, transformers, and lines.
The Federal Government also needs to adopt measures for the decentralisation of the national grid to meet regional electricity demands. This should include the establishment of mini-grids and alternative solar and renewable energy sources like solar photovoltaic and wind turbines.