The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, has assured Nigerians that electricity supply will begin to improve within 48 to 72 hours as the Federal Government moves to address operational challenges responsible for prolonged blackouts in parts of the country.
Tegbe attributed the outages, particularly in Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory, to maintenance at Egbin Power Station, inadequate gas supply to thermal power plants and restrictions on electricity transmission caused by damaged infrastructure.
The minister gave the assurance in a statement titled ‘Update on Power Situation’, published on his Facebook page on Friday.
He said planned maintenance at Egbin, Nigeria’s largest thermal power station, had reduced electricity generation, while gas supply constraints had further worsened the situation.
Egbin Power Station, located in Lagos, contributes about 16 per cent of electricity generated for the national grid.
“I am aware of the strain that the current outages have placed on households and businesses in four affected states, including Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory,” he said.
“Planned maintenance at Egbin Power Station and constraints in gas supply to some thermal power stations have reduced the amount of electricity available on the national grid. Grid operators have, therefore, implemented load shedding in some areas to manage the shortfall.”
Tegbe also identified the sabotage of critical transmission lines as another factor limiting electricity supply, particularly in Lagos, as it had restricted alternative routes for delivering power to affected areas.
He said the ministry was working with electricity generation and transmission operators to restore affected power plants, improve gas supply and repair damaged infrastructure.
“My team and I are working to return the affected generating units to service in phases, with the first units coming back online within the next 48 to 72 hours. We are also working with operators to improve gas supply and accelerate repairs to the damaged infrastructure,” he added.
The assurance comes amid growing frustration among electricity consumers in Lagos and Ogun states, where prolonged blackouts have disrupted household activities and business operations, particularly during the prevailing hot weather.
Meanwhile, the power crisis has triggered a disagreement between the Transmission Company of Nigeria and Ikeja Electric over the causes of recent electricity interruptions.
In a statement on Friday, TCN accused Ikeja Electric of misleading customers by attributing outages recorded on November 3 and 4 to instability on the national grid.
The transmission company maintained that the disruptions resulted largely from inadequate gas supply to thermal power stations and reduced output from hydroelectric plants.
TCN said the Nigerian Independent System Operator had not identified any failure of its transmission network as the cause of the outages.
Citing Section 67 of the Electricity Act 2023, the company argued that determining the causes of disturbances and interruptions on the national grid fell within NISO’s statutory responsibilities.
“TCN can only transmit the energy made available to it and cannot transmit energy that is not generated,” the company said.
According to TCN, 68 per cent of interruptions recorded on feeders supplying Ikeja Electric on November 1 and 2 resulted from frequency-control load shedding caused by inadequate electricity generation.
It attributed another 26 per cent to Ikeja Electric’s alleged failure to comply with electricity allocations, as well as faults and maintenance work on the distribution company’s network.
The remaining six per cent, it said, resulted from planned maintenance, switching operations and transmission line limitations.
The transmission company also maintained that none of the recorded interruptions resulted from equipment failure on its network.
The disagreement followed an apology by Ikeja Electric to customers on some Band A feeders after failing to meet the minimum daily electricity supply requirement of 20 hours on November 3 and 4.
Band A customers are entitled to a minimum of 20 hours of electricity daily under the country’s electricity service-based tariff system.
In a related development, Tegbe had, in an earlier statement on Thursday, acknowledged the decline in electricity supply across several states, including Lagos, Abuja, Ogun, Kwara and Oyo.
He attributed the situation to maintenance and operational challenges across the power sector, gas supply constraints affecting thermal power stations and reduced output from hydroelectric plants.
The minister said the Federal Government was working with TCN, NISO and electricity distribution companies to resolve the challenges and restore normal electricity supply.
TCN, meanwhile, urged electricity distribution companies to rely on verified information from NISO when communicating the causes of supply interruptions to consumers.
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