Decrying the negative impact on the economy, the House of Representatives has resolved to investigate the incessant collapse of Nigeria’s power grid and the failure of the Transmission Company of Nigeria.
The House mandate its committee on Power to conduct an investigation of “the root causes of incessant grid collapse in the country viz-a-viz TCN’s capacity to address the ugly trend, in order to forestall future occurrences and protect our already fragile socio-economic environment.”
This development is based on the unanimous adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by a member, Sani Bala, titled “Urgent Need to Investigate the Recurring National Grid Collapse with a View to Addressing the Multiple and Dire Consequences Associated with Power Outages in the Country Occasioned by these Collapses.”
While moving the motion, Bala noted that the national grid collapses occur when there are system disturbances along the transmission lines connecting a number of generating stations.
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According to him, the House is concerned that since 2013 when the privatization exercise took place in the power sector, the country has witnessed over a hundred national grid collapses; a challenge which experts and operator said would linger for a long time if not addressed. The House is also concerned that only this year, the national grid has collapsed seven times more than the three times recorded last year. thereby, causing national power outages with enormous socio-economic implications.
The House is equally concerned that the latest in the series of power failures has been adjudged among the worst the country has witnessed in recent times, which in turn indicates that there is no framework or spinning reserve meant to forestall such occurrences.
The lawmaker noted that available statistics from research show that if the power generated is adequately wheeled and transmitted for distribution to consumers, there will be a 30 per cent reduction in the cost of generating power, thus leading to a corresponding reduction in the prices of utilities in the electricity supply industry.
