Labour has shut down national grid, says TCN

By Omeiza Bilal

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has shut down the national grid throwing the country into total darkness, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has said.

The NLC and TUC commenced a nationwide strike to demand for a new minimum wage. The Unions say the strike will result to a shutdown of all activities by its members. They say until its demands are met, the strike would not be called off. Last minute attempt by the National Assembly to resolve the issue yesterday did not yield result.

A statement by GM, Public Affairs of TCN, Ndidi Mbah, stated that its staff manning the various distribution and generating plants were forced to shut down by unionists.

“The Transmission Company of Nigeria hereby informs the general public that the Labour Union has shut down the national grid, resulting in black out nationwide. The national grid shut down occurred at about 2.19am this morning, 3rd June 2024.

“At about 1:15am this morning, the Benin Transmission Operator under the Independent System Operations unit of TCN reported that all operators were driven away from the control room and that 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.

“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,” the statement said.

The TCN GM explained that about 3.23am, however, the company 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,” she added.

The company assured Nigerians that it “will continue to make effort to recover and stabilize the grid to enable the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres nationwide.”