Oredola Adeola

The staff of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) under the aegis of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) completely shut down all power transmission substations across the country at approximately 2:19 am on Monday, June 3, 2024, causing the national grid system to drop to zero megawatts (0MW) and resulting in a complete disruption of power supply to all eleven electricity Distribution companies (DisCos) in the country.

Ndidi Mbah, TCN General Manager, Public Affairs confirmed this in a statement obtained by Advisors Reports on Monday, on the sideline of the decision by electricity workers to picket TCN headquarters, power plants and stations nationwide in compliance with the

Advisors Reports’ check based on data obtained via Nigeria System Operator, NSO’s portal showed that TCN was unable to transmit power to the eleven electricity Distribution Companies as of 3:23am on Monday.

According to Mbah, “At about 1:15am this morning, the Benin Transmission Operator under the Independent System Operations unit of TCN reported that all operators were driven away from the control room and that staff that resisted were beaten while some were wounded in the course of forcing them out of the control room and without any form of control or supervision, the Benin Area Control Center was brought to zero.

“Other transmission substations that were shut down, by the Labour Union include the Ganmo, Benin, Ayede, Olorunsogo, Akangba and Osogbo Transmission Substations. Some transmission lines were equally opened due to the ongoing activities of the labour union.

“On the power generating side, power generating units from different generating stations were forced to shut down some units of their generating plants, the Jebba Generating Station was forced to shut down one of its generating units while three others in the same substation subsequently shut down on very high frequency.

“The sudden forced load cuts led to high frequency and system instability, which eventually shut down the national grid at 2:19am.

“At about 3.23am, however, TCN commenced grid recovery, using the Shiroro Substation to attempt to feed the transmission lines supplying bulk electricity to the Katampe Transmission Substation,” TCN’s spokesperson said.

Dominic Igwebike, Acting General Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), in a letter with reference number NUEE.NS.2024/128, dated May 31, 2024, addressed to all Administrative Councils, Chapter Secretaries, and NUEE members nationwide, mobilized its members for a nationwide strike and total withdrawal of services effective from Sunday, June 2, by 12 midnight.

The statement cited the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) circular dated May 31, 2024, as the basis to commence on indefinite strike on Monday, June 3, 2024.

The Union cited the failure of the Nigerian Government to implement and sign into law the new national minimum wage on or before May 31, 2024, as the primary reason for the strike.

Additionally, the Union as part of its agitation, expressed concerned about the non-reversal of the electricity tariff hike from N65/kwh to N225/kwh, which was implemented without consulting stakeholders as required by law.

The statement also expressed concern over the “apartheid categorization” of Nigerian electricity consumers into bands.