Ben Eguzozie
Electricity consumers in Nigeria’s Southeast geopolitical zone under the umbrella of Electricity Consumers Association of Nigeria (ECAN) have advised the federal government to urgently create a second transmission network to grapple with the problem of constant collapse of the national grid.
Responding to the nationwide collapse of the transmission network, the electricity consumers association in the five southeastern states also advised the Nigerian government to take a cue from the Geometric Power managing nine local government areas served by Aba Power in Abia State, which were not affected by the national blackout.
“The people in the nine LGAs that make up the Aba Ring-fenced Area (RFA) were not affected by the awful national experience”, the consumers said in a statement issued by the ECAN chairman in the southeast, Joe Ubani, and the secretary, Chris Okpara.
According to the ECAN executive, the Aba Ring-fenced Area does not depend on the national grid because it receives power from the 188MW Geometric Power Plant in the Osisioma Industrial Zone of Aba.
Aba Power Electric Ltd is a subsidiary of the Geometric Power group.
ECAN explained that, unlike other electricity distribution companies in Nigeria, Aba Power, Nigeria’s 12th DisCo, obtains supplies from the national grid only when there are issues like natural gas shortages from its supplier.
The association stated that it shows that Aba Power only uses the national transmission network as a backup, whereas the other 11 legacy DisCos depend entirely on it, given its serious problems of old age, poor maintenance, fragility, and limited capacity.
The South-East electricity consumers also lauded the move by the minister of power, Adebayo Adelabu, in considering reviving the Second Transmission Network project.
Recall that in 2012, Bart Nnaji, as the minister of power, had started in 2012 that Professor Bart Nnaji, (now the Geometric Power group founder and chairman), had started to build a 756KV grid to serve as the nation’s Second Transmission Network, a project which the federal executive council had approved. But it was abandoned after Nnaji resigned in protest against the manner the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) assets were being privatized. Till date, the project remains abandoned, leaving Nigeria depending on only one aged transmission network.
Energy experts say, a situation where the whole nation was on Wednesday plunged into darkness except the Aba Ring-fenced Area underlines the imperative of an alternative power transmission grid.
“A second transmission network will make for energy security and national economic progress, as Nnaji has been arguing”.
Wednesday’s grid collapse was the first time Nigeria was experiencing a nationwide power failure this year, though it recorded 12 failures in 2024.
Electricity experts adduce the causes of the grid collapse to range from tall iroko trees touching the transmission network in places like Ogun and Ondo states to a fault in any of the networked power plants, due to old age and poor maintenance.
