Nigeria’s electricity grid collapsed again over the weekend, leaving several cities in darkness.
The latest incident occurred on Saturday, October 19, 2024, at 8:15 a.m., following another collapse just days earlier on Tuesday.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated event, as the grid has collapsed over six times in 2024 alone, and more than 200 times in the past decade.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has taken proactive measures to address these recurring issues.
In line with Section 48, subsection 1 of the Electricity Act 2023 (Amended), NERC will conduct an investigative public hearing on October 24, 2024.
The hearing aims to identify the immediate and remote causes of these grid disturbances and widespread outages.
The commission has noted with concern the recent escalating incidence of grid disturbances often leading to marked outage in several states thus reversing many of the gains recently achieved in reducing infrastructure deficit and improving grid stability,” NERC stated.
Public Hearing Details:
Date: Thursday, October 24, 2024
Venue:Commission’s Hearing Room,Fourth Floor, Plot 1387, Cadastral Zone A00, Central Business District, Abuja
Time: 10:00 a.m. prompt
NERC invites stakeholders, civil society organizations, and the general public to participate in this hearing. The commission believes that an independent System Operator will result in greater grid management discipline and optimized infrastructure investment.
Nigeria’s power sector has faced numerous challenges, including electricity policy enforcement, regulatory uncertainty, gas supply, transmission system constraints, and significant power sector planning shortfalls.
The federal government privatized power generation and 11 distribution companies in November 2013, retaining ownership of the transmission company. However, despite efforts to reposition the power sector, the grid continues to collapse.
