Despite the assurance by the Minister of Power, Olasunkanmi Tegbe to fix in 72 hours the lingering power failures in Lagos, Abuja and two other states, blackout is persisting in the affected states with heavy tolls on electricity consumers, Daily Trust can report.
Consumers lamented that the situation also worsened by the unabated heatwaves and the skyrocketing cost of fuel to provide them power alternatives.
Tegbe, had last Friday in a statement assured that that electricity supply would gradually improve as the first generating units returned to service within 48 to 72 hours.
Daily Trust reports that his promise later turned to be a compounding issue as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited faulted him and Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) for attributing the blackout to severe gas shortage.
Last Thursday, the operator said low generation was due to limited gas to thermal plants and low water levels at hydro plants, noting that limited gas availability has limited the capacity of affected thermal generating stations to operate at their available levels.
It also quoted that reduced water inflows into reservoirs have impacted the generation capacity of hydroelectric power stations.”
Strengthening the blame, Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, attributed it to the planned maintenance at Egbin Power Station, which supplies about 16 percent of grid power, gas constraints to thermal stations, and sabotage of transmission lines.
He added: “Grid operators have, therefore, implemented load shedding in some areas to manage the shortfall. Sabotage of key transmission lines has also restricted the use of alternative routes.”
Faulting the earlier claims, the NNPC Limited through Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Andy Odeh, maintained that the gas network operated by NNPC Gas Infrastructure Company Limited (NGIC) remained available to support gas deliveries to power-generating stations in Nigeria.
He also stated that NGIC’s operational records do not indicate transportation-related constraints within its network that explains the current decline in electricity generation.
According to him, gas production has grown by about 10 percent year-to-date in 2026, arguing that “Gas supply availability is therefore not a challenge, adding that transportation must be separated from production, commercial arrangements and actual offtake.
Daily Trust recalled that the development also caused some power distribution companies to ration electricity among their customers amidst Lamentations.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, rejected Ikeja Electric’s claim of grid instability.
It added: “TCN can only transmit the energy made available to it and cannot transmit energy that is not generated,” noting low generation, not transmission failure, caused the outage.
Observers told Daily Trust that the lingering dispute manifests structural lacunae in the country’s electricity value chain.
Rasheed Adeleke, an energy expert, lamented the needless disputes over gas shortage in the country.
He told Daily Trust that given availability of gas and huge quantum of its reserves, Nigeria has no need to suffer gas shortages and energy poverty.
He added: “The repeated buck-passing and controversies surrounding our institutions is very unfortunate and regrettable. This should have been avoided if critical sector like energy is religiously governed by the prevailing rules in the country and the global best practices.
“The buck-passing has locked us in another round of epileptic power supply. This is very unbecoming.”
Speaking at a recent Harvard Business School Association of Nigeria energy conference in Lagos, Senior Technical Adviser on Upstream & Gas, Gbite Adeniji, maintained that resolving the power sector’s liquidity crisis required the government to clear outstanding debts and provide NBET with credible financial backing.
According to him, the inability of gas suppliers to receive payment for supplies to power plants was affecting the entire electricity value chain.” 0489
He added: “The issue is whether that demand is as effective as it should be, that is, can people pay for the gas that they procure? Once you can resolve that issue, you’ll find that there’ll be far more uptake of gas.”
Dr. Joy Ogaji, CEO, Association of Power Generation Companies, tied the shortage to debt, revealing the government owes GenCos about N6.8 trillion, with gas suppliers owed about N3.3 trillion.
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