… mandates Committee to submit report by November 1, 2024

Oredola Adeola

Chief Adebayo Adelabu, Minister of Power, has set up a forensic investigation committee and a technical team to evaluate critical nodes on the national grid, identify vulnerabilities, recommend solutions for a more resilient system, and submit their report by November 1, 2024.

Bolaji Tunji, Special Adviser to the Minister, made this known in a statement obtained by Advisors Reports on Tuesday.

He disclosed that the Power Minister summoned an emergency meeting at the weekend with the leadership of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), following recent grid disturbances that caused outages across parts of the country twice within the week.

The Minister’s spokesperson explained that the committee’s mandate includes recommending measures to strengthen the national grid, complementing existing initiatives like the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) and the Nigeria Electricity Transmission Project (NETAP).

He emphasized that the committee will also investigate the root cause of the recent disturbances, including potential sabotage.

“The committee will conduct a comprehensive review of grid stability and identify the technical capabilities and investments required to make the system smart and resilient,” Tunji noted.

He further stated that a technical team has also been deployed to inspect critical nodes on the grid, detect vulnerabilities, and propose preventive solutions to avoid future disruptions.

“On October 14, 2024, a line trip at the Jebba Transmission Substation and a recurring fault at the Osogbo Transmission Substation caused a partial grid collapse, followed by a setback during restoration efforts the next day.

“The grid was fully restored by October 16, 2024.

“There was no collapse on Tuesday, as speculated—just a continuation of Monday’s restoration efforts,” the Minister’s spokesperson clarified.

He further explained that the incident on October 19, described as a collapse, was a protective shutdown following a transformer explosion at the Jebba Substation, which was resolved within two hours.

“These were grid disturbances, not full collapses,” he added.

Tunji therefore emphasised that preliminary investigations into the Jebba transformer explosion indicate it was caused by ageing equipment and unrelated to the earlier disruptions.

The six-member investigation committee includes: Engr. Nafisat Ali, Executive Director, Independent System Operator (ISO) (Chair); Dr. Chidi Ike, Commissioner, NERC; Engr. Ishola, General Manager, National Control Centre (NCC); Engr. Emmanuel Nosike, Director of Transmission, Federal Ministry of Power; Engr. Ali Sharifai, General Manager, Transmission Service Provider (TSP); and Mr. Adedayo Olowoniyi, Chief Technical Adviser to the Minister of Power.