Nigeria’s top electricity official, Joseph Tegbe, offered a public apology to residents for recent power cuts, focusing on Lagos and neighboring states. During a TVC interview, he clarified that the grid did not fully collapse. Instead, the supply drop stemmed from scheduled upkeep at the Egbin facility and damage to a high-voltage line serving the Lagos complex. Premium Times reported that the Egbin issue removed nearly 800 megawatts from the system. The damaged 330-kilovolt line, which usually delivers 300 to 400 megawatts, forced authorities to ration power in Lagos, Ogun, and parts of Kwara. Tegbe stated the government is working to fix these issues within a few days.
Tegbe noted that the Lagos complex was receiving about 1,000 megawatts by Monday morning, with one Egbin turbine back online. AllAfrica reported that total national generation increased to 4,020.41 megawatts on Monday, up from 3,500 megawatts the day before. However, the minister acknowledged that transmission infrastructure remains a significant hurdle. He pointed out that only three lines serving Lagos are currently active, with some hardware being 40 to 50 years old. This aging network makes it difficult to reroute power when faults occur, leading to prolonged outages in affected areas.
In a related move, the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) also apologized to the public. Its chief executive, Sunday Oduntan, told Channels Television that the industry has fallen back into a pattern of blaming other operators. He compared the current situation to the 2016 to 2019 period, when distributors, transmission companies, and gas suppliers frequently pointed fingers at one another. Oduntan highlighted conflicting reports from the Nigerian Independent System Operator and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company. While the former cited low water and gas shortages, the latter claimed gas was available. Punch noted that Oduntan urged the power minister to bring all parties together to identify the true causes of the shortages, helping consumers who are struggling with high generator costs and unreliable grid supply.