The country has been thrown into a fresh round of blackouts over the shutdown of the national grid by aggrieved members of the Labour Unions.

On Monday, Nigeria’s national grid dropped to zero megawatts due to a complete disruption of power supply to all eleven electricity distribution companies. This nationwide blackout was caused by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) staff, under the National Union of Electricity Workers (NUEE), who shut down all power substations across the country at approximately 2:19 AM.

According to Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s General Manager of Public Affairs, the action left the national grid system at a standstill, following reports of violent incidents where operators were forced out of control rooms, leading to the shutdown of the Benin Area Control Center and other critical substations like Ganmo, Ayede, Olorunsogo, Akangba, and Osogbo. The blackout’s impact extended to power generation facilities, with units from various stations, including the Jebba Generating Station, being forced to shut down due to high frequency and system instability.

This followed a dramatic meeting on Sunday evening between Labour unions and the National Assembly’s leadership, where union leaders reaffirmed their decision to commence a nationwide industrial action. Festus Osifo, President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), and Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), after meeting with key legislative figures, insisted on proceeding with the strike due to unresolved issues over a new national minimum wage and the reversal of the recent electricity tariff hike. Efforts to restore the grid began around 3:23 AM, with TCN initiating recovery attempts using the Shiroro substation to feed electricity to the Katampe Transmission Substation. Despite these efforts, the Labour Union’s activities continued to obstruct the grid recovery process. Mbah emphasized that TCN is committed to stabilizing the grid to ensure the restoration of normal bulk electricity transmission to distribution centers nationwide. Still, the situation remains challenging due to ongoing Labour disruptions.