Nationwide Outage as Labour Union Shuts Down National Grid.
In a dramatic escalation of their ongoing strike, the labour union has deliberately shut down the national grid, causing a nationwide power outage.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) announced this development in a statement from its Public Affairs Manager, Ndidi Mbah, in Abuja on Monday morning.
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The shutdown reportedly occurred at 2:19 am on Monday, June 3, 2024. “The Transmission Company of Nigeria hereby informs the general public that the Labour Union has shut down the national grid, resulting in blackout nationwide,” Mbah stated.
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Details from TCN indicate that at about 1:15 am, the Benin Transmission Operator, under the Independent System Operations unit of TCN, reported that union members forcefully removed all operators from the control room.
“Staff who resisted were beaten, and some were wounded. Consequently, the Benin Area Control Center was brought to zero without any form of control or supervision,” the statement revealed.
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Other affected transmission substations include Ganmo, Benin, Ayede, Olorunsogo, Akangba, and Osogbo. Several transmission lines were also opened due to the union’s actions.
On the power generation side, generating units from various stations were forced to shut down. Notably, the Jebba Generating Station had to shut down one of its units, with three others subsequently shutting down due to very high frequency, leading to system instability and the eventual grid shutdown at 2:19 am.
Efforts to recover the grid began at 3:23 am, with TCN attempting to use the Shiroro Substation to supply electricity to the Katampe Transmission Substation. However, the labour union’s ongoing obstruction continues to hinder grid recovery nationwide.
TCN assured the public that it is working tirelessly to stabilize the grid and restore normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres across the country.
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