By Abiola Olawale
The national electricity grid has once again experienced system failure, leading to a nationwide blackout. This has resulted in massive calls by citizens for the immediate sack of the minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu for alleged incompetence and lack of capacity for the serious task of addressing Nigeria’s power challenges.
The calls for the immediate removal of the 54-year old Adelabu by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has become fierce in the last few hours since the national grid collapse at about 3pm on Saturday.
Various people took to their social media handles to vent their anger, spleen and disappointment with the ministry of power and indeed the federal government under the leadership of Tinubu. One writer on Facebook simply said:” Is the Adelabu still in that ministry? I thought the President should have removed him by now. That is how serious countries work. You don’t keep an appointment who has demonstrated high level of incompetence or incapacity to address the problems of such a sensitive sector.” Another person simply wants light and urged the government to do all it can to give the nation electricity supply. “ If that amounts to removing the official that can’t handle the situation, so be it.”
It was gathered that the grid experienced system failure around 3 pm on Saturday.
This has also been confirmed by the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company.
The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company in a statement issued on Saturday revealed that all its interfaces with the Transmission Company of Nigeria stations are out of supply, stressing that it is unable to provide services to customers in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo states.
The statement reads in part: “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,” a statement by the EEDC Head of Corporate Communications, Emeka Ezeh, read.
The New Diplomat reports that this is the fourth time the national grid would collapse.
The national electricity grid, on February 4, collapsed for the first time in 2024.
Also, the country suffered another nationwide blackout on March 28.
On April 14, the nation’s electricity grid experienced another system collapse.
