National Grid Collapse: Nigeria Electricity and Regular Grid Collapses, What is the Solution?

Photo of the man who regained power — What do we call this photograph, Electricity surveys

Author, Abubakar Machido
Role, Reporter
Report from Kano
45 minutes, that’s it

Failed business, rotten food and too much money for fuel. Nigerians are suffering this because of poor power supply.

Even if we say that power wahala is not something new in Nigeria, this year alone the national power grid has collapsed 10 times since January.

This is one of the worst situations Nigeria has faced in many years.

On Tuesday, Nigerians again faced power outages as the national power grid collapsed.

In October alone, the grid went down three times in one week, causing power outages and forcing Nigerians to react.

For 10 days, more than a third of 36 states were in the dark due to a major fault in the power grid.

Ms Chidinma Emeneka is one of the millions whose regular customer was affected by the collapse of the power grid and is now struggling to keep her business going.

The 27-year-old told the BBC her company had begun to rely on generators that were not standing to keep running after she had been without power for about six weeks.

“I have a bad meter, the platform to apply for a new meter is down, no way to get a new meter and no way to get power.”

At this time, the entire area had not even had electricity for a week due to the collapse of the national grid.

Businesses like frozen food retailers lost thousands of dollars by throwing out frozen food, including frozen fish, chicken and turkey, that had not yet spoiled.

What is the reason for the power of wahala in Nigeria?

Many experts believe that old equipment, low power and poor maintenance affect power grids and make it difficult to transmit light.

Heather Onoa, representative of the GENCO Board of Trustees, explains that the lack of transmission capacity is one of the main problems that causes the collapse of the network.

“We don’t have a transmission facility or a network to carry that energy so they can use it,” she said.

“So sometimes the energy goes out even though it’s coming back into the system and everything runs wild.”

According to experts, to put an end to energy wajala in Nigeria, Nigeria needs to upgrade and repair some parts of the power grid and start using modern methods, especially such as solar energy and other alternative energy sources.

One expert, John Adebayo, an electrical engineer, said it was important to explore various ways that could help improve lighting in Nigeria.

“This is a long-term solution for Nigeria, sustainable, even suitable for expanding to other countries.”

I added, “The power solution is simple, make us go hybrid style, fix all the bad equipment in the path the light takes to reach consumers, and make a hybrid solution.”

Victoria Ibrahim, a renewable energy expert, told the BBC that if Nigeria uses solar or hydropower for the right job, it will begin to transform the country’s electricity supply.

“If we try measures like decentralization, we will use renewable energy from waste, small hydroelectric power plants or solar panels with appropriate operation,” she said.

She added: “Some of these methods will give us the secure and stable power we need for Nigeria.”

Further information: Nkechi Ogbonna is BBC West Africa correspondent.