Nigeria’s power transmission grid collapsed on Tuesday night, a development that led to widespread blackout across the country.
It was learnt that the collapse was due to a fire incident on the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System of the Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company Limited.
The incident led to a shutdown of the pipeline that supplies gas to six thermal power plants, which prompted the collapse of the country’s electricity grid at 10:20pm on Tuesday.
This was confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing in a statement issued around 12:44am on Wednesday.
The ministry said it was regrettable that after a sustained period of increasing production and distribution of power since September 2017 to date, the Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company Ltd reported a fire incident on its Escravos Lagos Pipeline System near Okada, Edo State on Tuesday, January 2, 2018.
It said, “The incident requires a shutdown of the pipeline supplying gas to Egbin 1,320megawatts; Olorunsogo NIPP 676MW; Olorunsogo 338MW; Omotosho NIPP 450MW; Omotosho 338 MW; and Paras 60MW power stations.
“The sudden loss of generation due to interruption in gas supply from these stations caused the national transmission grid to trip off around 20:20 on 2nd January 2018. The national transmission grid is owned and operated by the Transmission Company of Nigeria.”