The ongoing power crisis in Northern Nigeria has intensified, resulting in significant blackouts across the region. According to a statement released on Tuesday by Ndidi Mbah, the General Manager for Public Affairs at the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), the 330kV Ugwaji–Apir double circuit transmission lines 1 and 2 experienced a fault on Monday, leading to a forced power outage.
Mbah explained that at around 4:53 AM, the Ugwuaji–Markurdi 330kV Line 2 tripped, causing 243 MW to be redirected to Line 1 along the same route. Just minutes later, at 4:58 AM, Line 1 also tripped, resulting in a total loss of 468 MW of power. Efforts to restore the lines at 5:15 AM and 5:17 AM were unsuccessful, as both lines tripped again almost immediately.
In response to the outages, TCN dispatched two teams of linesmen: one from the Apir Transmission Sub-region and another from Enugu. Their mission was to trace the fault along the 215 km route, which includes 245 transmission towers. Mbah noted that the Apir team worked diligently throughout Monday, facing challenging terrains, even reaching as far as the River Benue in their search for the fault. Unfortunately, they could not identify the issue and continued their efforts early Tuesday morning.
The Enugu team faced additional challenges due to a ‘sit-at-home’ directive in the Southeast for October 21st and 22nd, 2024, which hindered their ability to patrol the lines and refuel their vehicles for the lengthy operation. However, arrangements were made for security operatives to assist, and they began fault tracing on Tuesday morning.
Currently, TCN has managed to restore power to the 132kV transmission line from New Haven to Apir, but the 330kV lines remain non-operational, further affecting power supply in the Northern region. Compounding the issue, the TCN Shiroro-Mando transmission line is also down due to security concerns, exacerbating the outages.
Mbah expressed regret to the government and electricity consumers in the affected states, acknowledging that the patrol teams would have worked through the night if not for the difficult terrain, which includes swamps, rivers, and areas of insecurity in the forests.
She assured that TCN reconvened early on Tuesday with security operatives to continue tracing the fault and address the underlying issues. Reports indicate that Nigeria has experienced at least eight instances of national grid collapse in 2024 alone.
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