SHORTLY before noon of Wednesday, February 12, the national grid registered a collapse, which on X (formerly Twitter) was described as a “grid disturbance”. The post on X, listing the event had a time stamp of 11.34 a.m.
Other stakeholders also took to X to inform their clients and customers. For instance, Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company reported on X that the grid outage happened at 11:34 am.
“Please be informed that we experienced a system outage today 12th February, 2025 at 11:34hrs affecting all our feeders.
“Restoration of supply is ongoing in collaboration with our critical stakeholders,” the company wrote.
Similarly, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company also confirmed the development on X. In a stement, the company said: “Dear Valued Customer, we regret to inform you that a system disturbance occurred on the national grid at 11:34 am today causing a power outage across our franchise areas.
“While gradual restoration of power supply has commenced, please be assured that we are working closely with relevant stakeholders to fully restore electricity as soon as the grid is stabilised. Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work to serve you better”.
Earlier in the year, on January 11, the grid failed for the first time this year after it failed 12 times in 2024, but the grid managers rationalised off by saying it wasn’t a grid collapse, but some lines just “tripped off”. This second incident has been termed a “grid disturbance”. Apparently, those in charge of public communications at the transmission company are taking instructions from engineers who must be embarrassed endlessly over frequent failures of the national grid.
Line tripping, grid disturbance or whatever spin doctors at the transmission company want to put on it, you cannot solve a problem by giving it another name. In the English language, a thief is sometimes described as someone with “itchy fingers”, or someone who has a “sleight of hand”. Sleight of hand refers to fine motor skills when used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, card flourishing and stealing. Itchy fingers or sleight of hand is window dressing; a thief is a thief. So also grid disturbance or line tripping make the national grid a failing concern. By year end, how many grid collapses would have occurred?
I have always wondered at the mind sets that run our affairs here. Shouldn’t it be clear now to those in charge how to go about solving our electricity conundrum? I have repeatedly called for a breakdown of the national grid into smaller, more manageable units, perhaps along geo-political lines. In addition, it is time policy makers advance the option of mini grids for universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, industrial clusters and research institutes.
Imagine if in Lagos alone, UNILAG, YabaTech, LASU, LASPOTECH, Caleb University, AOCOED, the Ikeja, Ilupeju and Amuwo-Odofin industrial clusters are off the national grid, fed by stand-alone power from a mini-grid. The electricity freed from them would better power artisans, homes, and small and medium businesses. In Kaduna, there are at least 50 institutions of higher learning, including Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; Nigeria Defence Academy; Kaduna State University; and lots more.
Imagine if they were off the grid; there’d be more electricity to go round the people of that state. Take Ibadan as another example. This ancient city is home to the famed University of Ibadan and countless research institutes like Moor Plantation, IITA, CRIN, NISER and many more. These are large, sprawling estates. Can the power minister imagine the relief the whole of Ibadan, and Oyo State as a whole will get, if all of them go off the national electricity grid? I can go on; more examples abound nationwide; but there doesn’t seem to be much imagination that can fire the enthusiasm needed to formulate policies that will take us out of darkness.
One other reason the national grid ought to be broken down is that the installations therein are simply too old and cannot, technically withstand the strain of 24-7 transmission when we have the power. I remember, as a secondary school student of Remo Divisional High School, Sagamu in 1978, staring in awe, like my other schoolmates, as the cables on the grid line passing through Sagamu were being connected to their pylons. Imagine cables in use since 1978 are still there now.
Cables manufactured 46 years ago, transmitting electricity since then, would have been considerably weakened and the quality would have greatly attenuated. The way to go is if we have smaller grids, the capital outlay for each grid would not be as fearful as what is needed now for the national grid. It will even be more attractive to private sector players. An electricity grid structured to cater for just Lagos and Ogun states will technically be easier to manage than a grid for the entire South-West.
The agony experienced at UCH, Ibadan in the last few weeks, on account of electricity should not have happened at all. If the president is dreaming a trillion-dollar economy by 2030, he should get his Power Minister to break the national grid into smaller units and embrace other options like solar. We simply cannot continue like this; else, we’d still be talking about collapsing national grid by 2050. TGIF.
