It is no longer news that the national grid has collapsed again. For the third time in less than one week, Nigerians have been pushed, pitched, or plunged into darkness. Whatever verb one chooses to use would not be an overstatement in attempting to describe the disgust and heightened horror visited on the nation incessantly. Like a curse, or what my people in the village would call the invocation of a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on the nation, the electricity supply in Nigeria today follows a pattern of one step forward, 10 or 12 steps backwards.
According to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), responsible for evacuating electric power generated by the electricity-generating companies (GenCos) and wheeling it to distribution companies (DisCos), progress is being made in power supply to Nigerians. But, looking at the practicalities on the ground, one can confidently say that this progress is more than offset by adverse developments. Yes, it’s akin to the progress of a man digging a well—the deeper he goes, the more progress he claims to make. That’s not the kind of bargain Nigerians are looking forward to.
The government established the TCN to provide vital transmission infrastructure between the generating companies (GenCos) and the distributing companies (DisCos), with the ultimate hope of making electricity available and affordable to everyone. But the wheels of this ambition seem to be moving backward. Not only is the grid constantly collapsing, but the cost of the power supplied is also arbitrary. For reasons that sometimes defy logic, power payment has been classified into bands where, according to the power suppliers, customers are made to pay different rates depending on their location and the frequency of power supply to that area. For the same quality of power, different people pay different prices due to differences in the quantity of power supplied.
Those in Band A have 20 to 24 hours of power supply; Band B: 16 to 20 hours; Band C: 12 to 16 hours; Band D: 8 to 12 hours. I don’t know if there is a Band 9, but I know people are receiving less than 8 hours of electricity. And since this system started, membership in this unclassified band has been on the rise. In typical Nigerian humour, someone was quick to classify them as “bandits.” Yes, due to segregation or discrimination, TCN or the DisCos have classified rich or favoured Nigerians as Band A, while the poor or neglected Nigerians are branded as “bandits.” And with the constant grid collapses, everyone in Nigeria seems to have been pushed into this band.
The last time I checked, the grid had collapsed more than nine times this year alone, with three occurrences within the past week. Each day brings a new challenge. As of 9 a.m. today, contacts I made in many sections of the FCT, Abuja, indicated the grid was transmitting 0 megawatts. When you consider the prohibitive cost of diesel and petrol, along with the damage to appliances due to erratic power supply, it’s hard not to feel sympathy and empathy for every Nigerian. Sympathy out of genuine concern for their suffering, and empathy in sharing their emotional experience.
In theory, we were told the TCN is intended to operate within certain limits, known as stability limits, by voltage, current, and frequency. However, these limits are often violated, resulting in outages that now seem to be the norm in Nigeria.
The latest grid failure is particularly embarrassing as it occurred around the time President Bola Ahmed Tinubu returned to the country after a two-week vacation abroad. The President has pledged a new commitment to expedite the delivery of reliable power supply in Nigeria, especially a project that will ultimately provide consistent electricity to Nigerian homes. This was mentioned in the President’s New Year broadcast, where he said:
“Just this past December during the COP28 in Dubai, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and I agreed and committed to a new deal to speed up the delivery of the Siemens Energy power project that will ultimately deliver a reliable supply of electricity to our homes and businesses under the Presidential Power Initiative, which began in 2018. Other power installation projects to strengthen the reliability of our transmission lines and optimize the integrity of our national grid are ongoing across the country. My administration recognizes that no meaningful economic transformation can happen without a steady electricity supply.”
Considering the numerous complaints from consumers and the costs associated with such complaints, it’s possible that elements of sabotage may be at play to frustrate the President’s electricity transformation ambition. Those involved seem intent on ensuring an erratic electricity supply, which endangers everyone.