Former Power Minister Proposes Solution to Frequent National Grid Collapses in Nigeria

Nigeria’s former minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji has advised the federal government to reduce pressure on the national grid by allowing Distribution companies and regions to generate and transmit power.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, Nnaji noted that frequent national grid collapses and power outages in the country require a multifaceted approach.

Nnaji noted that restructuring the network and adopting an embedded generation model would reduce the incidence of national blackouts, as the DisCos would not depend entirely on the national grid.

He said;

“The government should encourage DisCos to explore this option through policies and incentives, including ensuring the availability of gas to commercial and population centers across the country.”

Recall that Legit.ng earlier reported that the professor called out fuel suppliers and generator sellers for sabotaging efforts to ensure Nigerians have consistent access to power.

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SCADA implementation to stabilize national grid

Professor Nnaji noted that if the government fully implemented the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, it could achieve significant stability on the national grid.

The SCADA, as a data collection point, would speed up fault detection and aid line patrols, thus preventing and even reducing the regular grid collapses.

The SCADA is a collection of hardware and software that collects, analyses and displays real-time data to monitor and control the power generation process.

It is operated both remotely and on-site, helping the generating companies detect and address faults before a collapse occurs.

The Geometric Power Group Chairman also observed that if a supergrid was constructed on the existing 330KV infrastructure, it could work well with the SCADA systems to automate detection of network failures.

National grid collapse, other issues

According to Professor Nnaji, some other issues implicated in the constant power failure include load imbalance and overload, overgrown vegetation along Right-of-way paths, and Tower vandalism.

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Nnaji noted that if the government addressed these issues decisively, the issue of constant blackouts could be significantly reduced.

He advised that the government provide gas at fair prices to support power plants while avoiding arbitrary addition of new fees in the name of regulation. Nnaji noted that the escalated costs are always passed down to the consumers.

First national grid collapse in 2025

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, debunked reports of the first national grid collapse in 2025.

TCN spokesperson Ndidi Mbah noted that the outages in parts of the country were caused by the tripping of the Osogbo-Ihovbor and Benin-Omotosho transmission lines.

These led to a disruption of power supply to the Lagos axis over the weekend, even though the national grid stayed functional all day.

Source: Legit.ng