Amidst the ongoing nationwide strike, the Labour Union has shut down the national grid leaving the nation in blackout.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria confirmed the development in a press statement signed by the GM, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah.
According to the document, the national grid was shut down at about 2.19am this morning, June 3, 2024.
“At about 1:15 am 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”, the document reads in part.
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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, the statement explains that, 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.
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“The sudden forced load cuts led to high frequency and system instability, which eventually shut down the national grid at 2:19 am.
“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”, the statement further noted.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria has however given the assurance to make effort to recover and stabilise the grid to enable the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres nationwide.
