Nigerians are surely starting the new year on a bad note. The fuel scarcity which makes the new year celebration tepid has not abated that another national calamity struck with the power grid collapsed on Tuesday night, leading to a widespread blackout across the country.
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 was confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing in a statement issued on Wednesday: “It is 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.
“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 an 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.”
