A backup or buffer system will henceforth be provided to ensure that Nigerians will no longer be thrown into blackout whenever the national grid collapses, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), has promised.
Sule Abdulaziz, TCN managing-director, blamed aged infrastructure as old as 50 years for the frequent grid collapses in the country.
Said Abdulaziz: “Presently, we are doing the scatter system for the whole network and it is funded by the World Bank, and the project will take two years to be completed, and now, we have done 70% of the project.
“Almost a month ago, we were at Gwagwalada (in Abuja) with the World Bank where we celebrated the project. It is 70 percent completed. Once we have the scatter system, it will reduce the frequency of getting system disturbances.
“We are trying to upgrade all our transmission lines”.
Abduaziz added that though, the government might not have enough money for the project, the TCN had been working in partnership with private companies to mobilise funds.
Stated he: “The honourable minister is now working with the Presidency to have that approval. This is what we call the super grid.
“By the time we have it, even if there is a fault in one transmission line, you can switch to the one so that we have an alternative but now, the type of grid we have, once we have a problem with the line, you have no other line to switch on to”.
The TCN boss said the investment in critical electricity generation and transmission infrastructure must be continuous.
He held that Nigerians were paying more for power because electricity production was not easy and that citizens on Band A enjoyed 24-hour electricity, a claim many residents would contest.
Abdulaziz said despite the electricity tariff hike, power in Nigeria had remained cheaper than what was obtainable in neighbouring Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, and other African countries.
