Nigerians across the country may soon start to experience blackouts. This is as the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) again threatened to shut down the national grid.
The union made the threat and maintained that it would embark on it, should the federal government fail to honour its demands soon.
In a press conference in Kaduna, the zonal organizing secretary, North West of NUEE, Comrade Dukat Ayuba noted that while the negotiation is still ongoing, the shutting down of the national grid still hangs.
He, however, lamented that the so-called privatisation of the sector was a scam, saying nine years after being taken over by investors, not much has changed in the power sector.
He said, “That was why we kicked against privatising the distribution sector because the investors don’t have the capacity and expertise. As committed Nigerians, we advised the government against it. But the government was hell-bent on doing so.
“The investors are still operating with obsolete equipment dating back to 35, 40, and 50 years. One will expect that with the coming of the investors they will replace these obsolete equipment but nothing has been done.”
According to the union leader, the nation still generates 5,000 megawatts of electricity, saying, this is the same 5,000 megawatts we used to generate. “We now generate megawatts with higher tariffs. Bringing hardships to the homes of millions of Nigerians. This will only happen in Nigeria,” he stressed.
National grid collapse timeline
Blackout was last experienced nationwide following the collapse of the national grid on Sunday, June 12, 2022. BizWatch Nigeria understands that this is the fifth time Nigeria’s national grid would collapse in 2022.
Prior to this development, Nigeria’s power grid collapsed twice in March and twice again in April this year, as the power generation on the system had continued to fluctuate due to various concerns such as gas constraints, water management challenges, and gas pipeline vandalism, among others.
Multiple reports claimed that the national grid collapse led to the shutdown of the outgoing electricity feeders of some power distribution companies.
