The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) reports that the national grid has been shut down by the labour union, leading to a nationwide blackout.
The shutdown of the national grid occurred at approximately 2:19 am on June 3, 2024.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) began an indefinite nationwide strike today, protesting the federal government’s refusal to raise the minimum wage from N60,000.
In a statement on Monday, signed by its general manager Ndidi Mbah, TCN stated that workers at the Benin Transmission were removed from the control room and assaulted by the protesters.
The statement read: “At around 1:15 am this morning, the Benin Transmission Operator under TCN’s Independent System Operations unit reported that all operators were expelled from the control room, with some staff members beaten and injured while resisting. This forced the Benin Area Control Center to go offline without any supervision or control.
“Other transmission substations shut down by the Labour Union include Ganmo, Benin, Ayede, Olorunsogo, Akangba, and Osogbo Transmission Substations.
“Several transmission lines were also opened due to the ongoing activities of the labour union.
“On the power generation side, units at various generating stations were forced to shut down. At the Jebba Generating Station, one unit was shut down, and three others were subsequently shut down due to very high frequency.
“These sudden forced load cuts resulted in high frequency and system instability, leading to the national grid’s shutdown at 2:19 am.”
However, TCN noted that grid recovery began at approximately 3:23 am, using the Shiroro substation to attempt to supply bulk electricity to the Katampe transmission substation.
“The labour union is still obstructing grid recovery nationwide,” the company stated.
The transmission company added that it would continue efforts to recover and stabilize the grid to restore normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centers nationwide.
