For the seventh time in the last nine months, Nigeria’s electricity supply grid has again collapsed throwing homes and businesses into darkness.
The latest collapse of the national grid was announced by the spokesman of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), Mr. Emeka Ezeh.
Recall that the national grid collapsed multiple times between December 2023 and April 2024. On February 4, 2024 the grid collapsed and was shortly followed by another collapse on April 14, 2024.
Announcing the latest collapse, the EEDC Spokesman in a statement issued in Enugu on Saturday explained that the collapse had led to blackout in the five Southeast states served by the EEDC.
“The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company wishes to inform its esteemed customers of a general system collapse which occurred at 15:09 hours today, 6th July 2024. This has resulted in the loss of supply currently being experienced across the network.
“Due to this development, all our interface TCN stations are out of supply, and we are unable to provide services to our customers in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States.
“We are on standby awaiting detailed information of the collapse and restoration of supply from the National Control Centre, Osogbo,” the EEDC statement read.
Despite having a population estimated at over 240 million, Nigeria has been unable to generate enough electricity to power the country for decades.
The situation was earlier in the week described as being “shameful” by President Bola Tinubu.
Addressing the Presidential Economic Coordination Council (PECC) at the State House on Wednesday in Abuja, Tinubu decried the low electricity generation in the country.
However, speaking to the PECC, whom the President promised to work with to turn around the fortunes of the nation, ttInubu sought their patriotic support to enable his government change the narrative.
In a statement later issued by presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, President Tinubu was quoted to have said:
“We are determined to do that with your cooperation, collaboration and recommendations. As a nation, it is shameful that we are still generating 4.5GW of electricity.
“We have the challenge of energy security in Nigeria. We need to work together to improve our oil and gas sector, and we must also increase electricity generation and distribution throughout the country.
“We must increase our oil production to two million barrels per day within the next few months and we are determined to remove all entry barriers to investment in the energy sector while enhancing competitiveness.”