Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, has assured Nigerians that the current power outages in parts of the country will ease within 48 to 72 hours.
Tegbe, in an update titled “Update on Power Situation” shared on Friday, said the Federal Government was working to address generation shortfall and transmission constraints.
He blamed the drop in supply on planned maintenance at Egbin Power Station in Lagos, the nation’s largest thermal plant supplying about 16% of grid power, coupled with gas supply constraints to some thermal stations and sabotage of critical transmission lines.
“I am aware of the strain that the current outages have placed on households and businesses in four affected states, including Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory,” he said.
“Grid operators have, therefore, implemented load shedding in some areas to manage the shortfall,” he explained, noting that sabotage has blocked alternative routes to evacuate power to Lagos.
He said, “My team and I are working to return the affected generating units to service in phases, with the first units coming back online within the next 48 to 72 hours. We are also working with operators to improve gas supply and accelerate repairs to the damaged infrastructure.”
The assurance comes as residents of Lagos and Ogun lament prolonged blackouts amid hot weather.
The situation has sparked a war of words between TCN and Ikeja Electric. Ikeja Electric had apologised to Band A customers for failing to meet 20-hour supply on Nov 3 and 4, citing grid instability.
But TCN dismissed the claim as inaccurate and misleading, saying low generation—not transmission—is the problem.
“TCN can only transmit the energy made available to it and cannot transmit energy that is not generated,” TCN stated, adding that NISO found no transmission failure.
TCN said 68% of interruptions on Ikeja Electric feeders were due to frequency-control load shedding from low generation, 26% from Ikeja Electric’s non-compliance with load allocation and faults on its network, and 6% from its own maintenance and line limitations.
