Victor Ezeja
Electricity workers in Nigeria have shut down the National Grid, resulting in total blackout across the country.
This, according to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), was caused by members of labour unions who are enforcing the joint directive by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) to begin nationwide strike on Monday, 3rd June, over the Federal Government’s failure to concluded issues about the new minimum wage.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelTCN in a statement signed by its General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, said labour unions shut down the national grid, resulting in total black out nationwide.
The TCN said the national grid shutdown occurred at about 2.19 am Monday morning, 3rd June 2024.
Prime Business Africa recalls that the NLC and TUC had on Friday announced that they would commence an indefinite nationwide strike over failure of the Federal Government to adequately address their demands on minimum increase and reversal of the electricity tariff for band A customers.
TCN said the labour unions forced shutdown of Ganmo, Benin, Ayede, Olorunsogo, Akangba and Osogbo Transmission Substations.
READ ALSO: NLC, 30 Others Join Ongoing Nationwide Strike (Full List)
The statement said: “The Transmission Company of Nigeria hereby informs the general public that the Labour Union has shut down the national grid, resulting in black out nationwide. The national grid shut down occured at about 2.19 am this morning, 3rd June 2024.
“At about 1:15 am 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 2:19 am.
“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. The situation is such that the Labour Union is still obstructing grid recovery nationwide.
“We will continue to make effort to recover and stabilize the grid to enable the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres nationwide,” the statement read.
Many parts of the country have been on black since Sunday night.
The electricity distribution companies have notified their customers of service disruption
In a post on its X handle on Monday morning titled: “Public Notice”, Ikeja Electric wrote: “Dear Esteemed Customers, please be informed that the current service disruption is due to ongoing strike action by organised labour and as such there will be limited access to our call centre helplines.”
Also, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), informed its customers that service disruption is due to nationwide strike by labour unions, promising to restore power once national grid is operational.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
