FG to restore electricity in north within 5 days amid knocks
By Jeffrey Agbo
The federal government has said it will in five days’ time restore electricity to the 17 northern states that suffered blackout due to vandalisation of the Shiroro-Kaduna transmission line.
Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, stated this on Monday amid concerns from stakeholders about the blackout in the region.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and ex-presidential candidate Peter Obi raised eyebrows over the power outage, saying it is a recipe for killing businesses, especially small ones, and increasing poverty.
“Mr President has instructed the National Security Adviser (NSA), the chief of defense staff, the chief of Army staff, Chief of Air Staff, to provide the required security for the people that will fix the demolished line,” Adelabu told State House correspondents after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Abuja.
“With the provision of full security, the TCN staff will have the confidence, together with the contractors, to go to the field and fix it.
“So, I’m just appealing to our northern brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, to bear with us that very soon, light will be restored, and we must all collectively protect our national grid to avoid further vandalisation.”
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He added that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) earlier gave approval for the ministry of power to upgrade the Shiroro-Kaduna transmission line, one of the oldest transmission lines in Nigeria.
He said once the upgrade was done, the north would enjoy more stable electricity than what was being experienced now.
He promised to convene a meeting with the chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), and all the Distribution Companies (DISCOs) to ensure that customers in the north were not billed during the period they suffered blackout.
Adelabu explained that the national grid collapsed twice in recent times due to explosion of the transformer at Jeba plant.
He said before the explosion, the last disturbance on the grid was about four months ago.
“Let me tell you the truth of the matter is we have old infrastructure. We have a national grid that is more than 50 years old.
“We have national grid whose transmission lines are weak, the towers are falling, and the substations, the transformers are old.
“In fact, the transformer that actually exploded in Jeba was 47 years old. We’ve been trying to revamp this, to change them, but they cannot all be changed overnight,” he said.