Electricity consumers across Nigeria should be ready for blackouts as the Federal Government increases its efforts to stabilise the national grid via planned outages, the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) has said.
This is coming amid reports that 6 states in the North-East remain without electricity due to an ongoing outage coordinated by the Transmission Company of Nigeria to aid key transmission infrastructure upgrades.
Speaking via a video statement, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Independent System Operator, Abdu Mohammed, said that the current blackout in Borno, Taraba, Adamawa, and Yobe states was part of a broader nationwide maintenance project that would affect other regions very soon.
His explanation follows public complaints after the Transmission Company of Nigeria started the construction of a turn-in-turn-out along the 330kV Jos-Bauchi-Gombe transmission line to link the new Bauchi 330kV transmission substation to the grid.
He maintained that the areas affected have been enduring poor power supply over the specified period, stressing that it is for the greater good of guaranteeing better supply for customers in the long run.
“The outage in the northeastern states is a planned one, for infrastructure improvements by the Transmission Company of Nigeria and a planned outage to improve services that would be provided for these states, especially from Borno, Taraba, Adamawa, and Yobe.
That axis has been witnessing a little bit of poor supply over the period. However, the TCN has been working to improve supply; as such, there is a turn-in and turn-out project that they are going to implement, and that is why we have the outage from Tuesday to Saturday that would enable TCN to complete the project, and there would be improved supply within that axis.
It has become very necessary to have this project executed at this particular time, to make sure that the power supply within that axis is drastically improved. It is an ongoing project that other areas would also benefit from,” he said.
The Nigerian Independent System Operator, which takes care of grid operations, coordinates the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity to eligible customers, revealed that the outages are important despite the discomfort, stressing that it is all part of a strategic effort to resolve years of underperformance in the power sector.
Mohammed concluded by saying that the nationwide maintenance project would continue throughout 2025, warning that more regions should expect temporary blackouts in the coming months.
“As soon as that project is implemented, another region will also face a similar exercise so that infrastructure improvements are attained as planned. The goal is to drastically improve the reliability and availability of electricity supply across Nigeria,” he added.
