.Businesses, institutions groan under Nigeria’s epileptic power supply as UCH Ibadan power outage enters 113 days
.Engineering Consultant recommends Aba Geometric Power model for various zones
Nigerians were thrown into yet another round of power chaos as the nation’s electricity grid suffered a “grid disturbance” just before noon yesterday, causing widespread outages across several parts of the country.
The Nigeria National Grid, in a brief statement on X (formerly Twitter), confirmed the collapse but provided little detail on the extent of the disruption.
“There was a ‘GRID DISTURBANCE’ before noon today. Parts of the country experienced an outage. Further information shortly,” the agency posted.
This latest power failure has sparked outrage among citizens and businesses, who are grappling with the recurring nightmare of grid collapses.
Many took to social media to express frustration over the unreliable power supply, with some questioning when Nigeria will finally achieve a stable electricity system.
In 2024 alone, the national grid collapsed multiple times, throwing millions into darkness and disrupting economic activities.
One of the worst incidents occurred in September 2023, when the grid suffered a total collapse, leaving over 90% of the country without power.
The frequent collapses have been attributed to poor infrastructure, gas supply shortages, transmission failures, and inadequate system upgrades.
Despite repeated government assurances and billions of naira spent on power sector reforms, the situation remains dire.
With industries, hospitals, and households forced to rely on costly generators, the power crisis continues to deepen.
Calls for urgent power sector reforms are growing louder, but whether the government can finally end this cycle of blackouts remains to be seen.
Meanwhile electricity is set to return to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, after 103 days.
It would be recalled that Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, on Monday, agreed to restore electricity supply to some sections of the University College Hospital, Ibadan in Oyo State, within 48 hours after 100 days of power outage.
This was one of the resolutions of the meeting between the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, the management of the UCH led by its Chief Medical Director, Jesse Otegbayo, and the management of IBEDC led by its Managing Director, Francis Agoha, held at the Conference Room of UCH in Ibadan, the state capital.
Daily Champion reports that UCH had been in darkness since October 2024 over non-payment of over N283 million in electricity bills.
While the meeting was ongoing, the Medical students of UCH staged a protest at the office of the CMD of the institution over the non-availability of power and water.
As part of the resolution, IBEDC will restore power to some sections of the hospital within 48 hours, while UCH will pay the debt in installments. The federal government has also approved a 50MW solar mini-grid for UCH and UI to prevent future outages.
.as Engineering Consultant Suggests Geometric Power Model.
An Abuja-based engineer and electricity consultant, Dike Ejike, has recommended the Geometric Power Model of electricity development to tackle such issues as constant national grid collapse.
The national grid collapsed this afternoon, the second this year and the 14th in the last 12 months, though no reason has been given officially for the failure.
Engr Ejike said in a statement in the Federal Capital Territory that communities, businesses, voluntary organizations, and households in the Aba Ringfence covering nine of the 17 local government areas (LGAs) in Abia State was minimally affected by the grid failure because the ringfence generates and distributes its own electricity.
“The Geometric Power Group”, he explained, “is Nigeria’s foremost integrated electricity organization because it is autonomous whereas other power companies in the country are mostly generating ones known as GenCos or distributing companies called DisCos.
“Geometric Power has a GenCo component and an embedded DisCo known as Aba Power, Nigeria’s 12th DisCo.
“That’s why it wasn’t much affected by the latest power collapse”.
The consultant stated that immediately the collapse occurred, the Geometric Power plant started a 47MW turbine to replace the 25MW it still receives from the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) through the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) because of the initial difficulties it was having with full gas supplies from the Oil Mining Licence (OML) 17 in Owaza, Ukwa West LGA of Abia State.
According to Engr Ejike, the first lesson from the Geometric Power experience in handling national grid collapse is the need to have generation companies and substations that can operate independently.
He, therefore, advocated the building of small hydropower stations and solar power plants, including from abandoned dams across the country.
“Another lesson”, Ejike said, “is the need to have a second national grid.
“There is no compelling reason for a nation of over 200m to have only one grid which is unfortunately old, poorly managed and fragile”.
The consultant also lauded the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, for proposing to split various DisCos because of the large swathes of territories they cover.
“One reason that Aba Power has over its peers is the manageable area it services”, he added.
“Experience has shown that the smaller the coverage area, the better’.
