Nigeria’s national power grid has been experiencing frequent collapses, leading to blackouts that disrupt daily life and business activities. Recently, the Federal Government outlined key reasons behind these issues, aiming to fix them and provide stable electricity to millions of Nigerians.

According to a report presented by Nafisatu Asabe Ali, the Chair of the investigative committee on grid failures, the main causes include poor maintenance, outdated equipment, and lack of resources. Specifically, the most recent grid failures on October 14 and 19, 2024, were due to excessive voltage that exceeded the equipment’s capacity. Further investigation found problems with malfunctioning lightning arrestors at the Jebba and Oshogbo transmission stations, as well as a transformer explosion at Jebba.

Ali said: “For the event on the 14th, lightning arrestors in Jebba and Oshogbo shattered. The one in Jebba was for the shunt reactor and this was caused by high voltage. Subsequently, we had the tripping of multiple 330kV lines. It kept going until it became major.

“The remote cause of that is the unavailability of the second reactor in Jebba, and that is because Jebba, by the design of the network and sometimes the topology of the network at a particular time is very prone to high voltage.

“We had two shunt reactors in Jebba before this event, however, one packed up. It is faulty, and so the voltage rose to about 400KV, which is beyond the threshold. High voltage degrades equipment insulation.

“If you expose equipment to high voltages for a long time, it degrades the insulation. And, of course, there’s a risk of failure. So, that was a remote cause for that. But the underlying causes are aged equipment. In our findings, we confirmed that Jebba was commissioned in 1968. Some of the equipment was commissioned alongside the substation. So, aged equipment. And maintenance culture is also an issue.”

In addition to these technical problems, the committee identified other factors impacting grid management, including vandalism of power infrastructure, a shortage of skilled operators, poorly organized maintenance schedules, and limited support for effective power generation.

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, acknowledged the seriousness of these failures and outlined plans for reform. He mentioned that additional funding is needed to address the identified issues and to support preventive measures. This funding will be sought through the 2024 Supplementary Budget and the 2025 Appropriation Bill. With these resources, the government plans to carry out significant repairs and upgrades, aiming for a more stable power grid.

He said, “Today’s meeting is to receive a report on the agency committee set up about two and a half weeks ago, to reveal the root cause of the incessant grid disturbances that we have experienced in the past few months. This is not good for us as a country. It is not good for us as a power sector. It is not good for us as a ministry of power and other agencies.”

To address the core problems, the committee recommended the following actions:

• Conduct regular audits and maintenance checks on all equipment
• Improve transmission line maintenance to ensure they remain reliable
• Install harmonics filters to prevent voltage issues
• Decentralize storage facilities to allow for better equipment management
• Enforce reliable operating standards for stable power delivery
• Replace outdated communication lines to improve the overall system’s coordination

Implementing these recommendations will be essential for strengthening Nigeria’s power infrastructure, making it more resilient and less prone to failure.

The government’s focus on addressing these issues signals a step in the right direction for Nigeria’s power sector. By fixing outdated systems and implementing a comprehensive maintenance plan, Nigeria could see a reduction in grid failures and a more reliable power supply in the future.