FG assures power restoration to North in 72 hours, puts temporary measure until full repairs

After several devastating days of darkness, the Federal Government has assured that electricity would be largely restored to northern Nigeria within the next 72 hours.

During a questioning section by the Senate Committee on Power, led by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, APGA, Abia South, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, disclosed that power will get to the North in the next seventy-two hours. He revealed that as a temporary measure, power would be supplied through the Ugwuaji-Makurdi transmission line, which could cover approximately 80% of affected states.

Making this commitment, he said, “Power will be restored to the North in two to three days. We will use the Ugwuaji-Makurdi transmission line for temporary purposes.”
Adelabu stated that security services were helping with efforts to gain access to the damaged system.
“Once fully accessible, the damaged lines will be repaired, allowing for a complete restoration of power to the affected areas.

“We are working with security agencies to access the grid currently occupied by vandals. I assure you that within the next 14 days, the repairs will be completed, and power will be fully restored to the north,’’ he assured.

Recall that on October 22, the 330-kilovolt (kV) Ugwaji-Apir double circuit transmission lines 1 and 2 tripped, causing the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), to report an outage in the North-East, North-West, and portions of North-Central.

Insurgents damaged the Shiroro-Kaduna transmission line that supplies electricity to the north, according to Independent System Operator Executive Director, Nafisatu Ali.

However, he gave consumers in the country’s northern regions his word that the restricted supply will be restored by this weekend, with the broken Shiroro-Mando line anticipated to be repaired in roughly six weeks.