Nigeria's Electricity Grid Collapses*

* Nigeria's Electricity Grid Collapses*

Nigeria’s power transmission grid collapsed on Tuesday night, a development that led to a widespread blackout across the country. It was learnt that the collapse was due to a fire incident on the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System of the Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company Limited.

The incident led to a shutdown of the pipeline that supplies gas to six thermal power plants, which prompted the collapse of the country’s electricity grid at 10:20 pm on Tuesday. This was confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing in a statement issued around 12:44 am on Wednesday.

The ministry said it was regrettable that after a sustained period of increasing production and distribution of power since September 2017 to date, the Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company Ltd reported a fire incident on its Escravos Lagos Pipeline System near Okada, Edo State on Tuesday, January 2, 2018.

It said, “The sudden loss of generation due to interruption in gas supply from these stations caused the national transmission grid to trip off around 20:20 on 2nd January 2018. The national transmission grid is owned and operated by the Transmission Company of Nigeria.”