Nigeria in darkness as labour union shut down national grid

The Labour Union has shut down the national grid, resulting in nationwide black out, the national grid shut down occured at about 2.19am this morning, 3rd June 2024.

According to the Transmission Company of Nigeria, at about 1:15am this morning, all operators were driven away from the control room of the Benin Transmission Operator under the Independent System Operations unit.

“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,” Ndidi Mbah, the general manager of the public affairs department said in a statement issued to BusinessDay on Monday.

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She explained that 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. The situation is such that the labour Union is still obstructing grid recovery nationwide.

“We will continue to make efforts to recover and stabilize the grid to enable the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres nationwide,” she said.

The leaders of the Nigerian Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress, last week had announced the commencement of a nationwide strike to compel the government to agree on a new minimum wage for workers, and review the increase in the price of electricity for some consumers.

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.