The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) announced it is actively working to restore the national grid, which was shut down due to an industrial action by the Trade Union Congress (TUC), the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and their affiliate associations.
The shutdown has led to a nationwide blackout.
TCN spokesman, Ndidi Mbah, stated in a Monday release that the grid went down at 2:19 a.m.
In his words”We will continue to make efforts to recover and stabilise the grid to enable the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres nationwide.”
He added that at 1:15 a.m., the Benin Transmission Operator from TCN’s Independent System Operations unit reported that all operators were expelled from the control room.
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He noted that staff who resisted were beaten, with some sustaining injuries while being forced out. With no control or supervision, the Benin Area Control Center was rendered inoperative.
Mbah also revealed that the Labour Union shut down other transmission substations, including Ganmo, Benin, Ayede, Olorunsogo, Akangba, and Osogbo.
“Some transmission lines were equally opened due to the ongoing activities of the labour union,” he stated.
Regarding power generation, he mentioned that units from various generating stations had to shut down some of their plants.
He added the Jebba Generating Station specifically had to shut down one of its units, and three additional units in the same substation also shut down due to extremely high frequency.
“The sudden forced load cuts led to high frequency and system instability, which eventually shut down the national grid at 2:19 a.m.,” Mbah said.
“At about 3:23 a.m., however, TCN commenced grid recovery, using the Shiroro Substation to attempt to feed the transmission lines supplying bulk electricity to the Katampe Transmission Substation.”
