… Promises to work with TCN to resolve these issues
Picture: At the commissioning. 4th Left is the Power Minister, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, 5th Left is TCN MD, Dr. Sule Abdulaziz, MD Eko Disco, Mrs Rekhiat Momoh, is 6th Left, while Ikeja Disco MD, Mrs Folake Soetan is 2nd Left.
By Foster Obi
Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu has decried the level of grid disturbances that affected the energy supply in the country last year.
Chief Adelabu said this at the official commissioning of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), 110MVA power transformer at the 132/133kv transmission substation, Isolo, Lagos
First, he expressed gratitude to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for sponsoring this project under the Service Level Agreement (SLA) framework with the TCN, adding, “This partnership has been instrumental in achieving this milestone.
He also commended the TCN for its diligence and dedication in completing this project. According to the Minister, “Beyond enhancing electricity supply, this project has broader implications for our economy through direct impact on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large industries, reduction in operational challenges caused by power shortages, fostering economic growth and creating job opportunities, and driving local and regional development, particularly in Lagos, a critical economic hub of our nation. This is in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President,” he noted
Lamenting that this project has come without challenges, he said, “But we have so much of self-inflicted challenges which we are trying to resolve and which will need the cooperation, support, collaboration, and partnership of every Nigerian to achieve this.
“Just last year, we recorded frequent grid disturbances and a dip in supply that mirrors reported factors, which include aging infrastructure, resource limitations, capacity inadequacy across the value chain, and predominantly, the consistent vandalism experienced on the transmission networks across the country.
“It can be a lot of things. It can be very, very discouraging and very, very depressing. When you complete transmission installations, and just a few days or a few weeks after, they are brought down by vandals.
“They are demolished and destroyed. This is an act of sabotage. And it shows that we don’t love ourselves.
“This does not happen in many other parts of the world. In a lot of places that we have been to, not for wanting of electrical installations, but by self-inflicted destruction of these installations. Bayelsa State was in darkness for over four months.
“It was a local vandalization of the community. Now we were able to restore light to Bayelsa. Do you know the implication of having a large part of the state in darkness for over a month? The disturbance to livelihood, the disturbance to economic activities, the disturbance to education, to health centers, to universities. We need to support government for us to overcome these major challenges.
“And, like I said when I was about to start this opening speech, it’s with mixed feelings. I’m happy we are commissioning this today because of the positive impact it will have on energy access and reliability. But just a few minutes ago, I got the news from the office in Abuja that the Katampe Central Area 132Kv lines 1 and 2, which are underground transmission cables, were vandalized and destroyed overnight.
“This has thrown the entire central area of Abuja, Maitama, which includes my own office, Garki area, into darkness. Why do we hate our country so much for us to engage in this kind of negative activity which has nothing to do than to draw the country backward?
We are struggling to stabilize energy, power transmission, and distribution in the country. Some people are hiding somewhere to frustrate these efforts and draw the country backward. It’s evil and it’s something that we must all rise against.
Harping on the importance of advocacy in re-orientating the minds of Nigerians and more especially those with criminal intent, he said, “Just a few days ago, when I defended the budget for the Ministry of power, of all that we defended, of all that we were able to justify, in line with our plans to turn around this sector, the only thing that was picked up by the legislators was that we wanted to spend 8 billion Naira on advocacy. That would have been too much, this and that. This is a testament to the justification for our submission at the Senate two days ago.
“It’s not just only on advocacy. Good people are people made through reorientation and re-education. And deliberate effort must be taken to ensure that we appeal and convince them that this kind of act is negative to the national good. We are talking of 36 states of the country including the FCT. We are talking about 774 local governments where we have all our transmission and power installations.
“These also include the establishment of call centers where we can get information about service disruption and demolition alerts from communities. These include CSR for local communities that boast a transmission stop system.
“And also encouraging and motivating local hunters and securities that will help us guard and protect power installations across these communities. I told you that the transmission bridge spans over 25,000 kilometers of high-voltage power lines with 30 kV and 1.2 kV lines, hundreds of substations, thousands of transformers. The UN forces alone cannot protect this. But they are not 100% everywhere.
“We also need the local communities to join us in protecting these assets. We must encourage them. We must motivate them. We must do things. We must engage in corporate social responsibility for those villages and rural areas where our lines pass through so that when people see something, they wait to say something.
“But I’m happy that it was brought up and allowed us to explain further the content of this project submission. At the end of the day, I believe that we’re going to add to this amount, given all the things that we intend to do with it. The Federal Ministry of Power, under my leadership, is always ready to work actively with TCN to resolve these issues and to ensure energy security and sustainability across the country.
As part of short-term measures, we encourage TCN to have in place a reinforced standard operating procedure for the system, detailed and enforced maintenance plans at the key transitional substations, consistent line tracing, especially on lines that are tripping incessantly and critical lines, and assessment of key nodes in terms of preventing future disturbances.
“This is very key, and I want the MD/CEO of TCN and the EDTSP to take this seriously. We need to add to our maintenance plans. There must be a reinforced standard operating procedure for all our systems and detailed and enforced maintenance plans.
“We know that our equipment, tracking infrastructures, have suffered from regular maintenance over the years, which is why there are mistakes that we found them to be. This must not continue to happen. We must not allow it to continue to happen.
“We need to maintain these infrastructures regularly. They are indeed old. But being old is not enough excuse for them to break down frequently. If they are properly managed, if they are properly maintained, the spoiled parts are replaced promptly. We do regular servicing. I believe the grid can be more stable than we are experiencing today.
“So we must be able to correct the mistakes of the past. It’s better late than never. If we continue to work in the way we used to work, business as usual, I can tell you that the grid will continue to be unstable.
“But we have the opportunity to serve our country. We have the opportunity to serve our people by doing the right thing. I know you are not the one at every station. You are not the owner of every transformer equipment. But some people work underneath. That’s what we call the toad at the top.
“The body language of the leaders matters. It must be zero tolerance. Wherever we detect that they are found wanting in compliance with maintenance standards, let us take punitive action. Punish them. Let’s bring our scapegoats and we are looking forward to identifying people that can be genuinely blamed for some of these disturbances.
“And we have set the motion in place. You will be able to see one, or two, or three. You use them as scapegoats. And others will sit tight. They’ll sit up. So this responsibility directly falls on your lap, and you must be up to, or even beyond, expectations. Please. This is very important,” the Minister declared.
Also, for a long-term strategy, the Minister said, “We plan to work with TCN to complete all ongoing projects and invest in a super grid project to enable a more robust and resilient grid system. We remain optimistic about the promise and the potential this sector holds to drive socio-economic development in the country. And we believe that we shall overcome these challenges through the active participation of all stakeholders.”
Managing Director of Ikeja Electric, Mrs. Folake Soetan, said the new transformer allows her organization and Eko Disco to serve their customers better.
“And how will this happen? Today, there are certain limitations. But with this commissioning, what this simply means is that we’re able to pull on more load. For us at Ikeja Electric, we’re able to also improve our infrastructure as we’re able to pull energy from this particular power transformer. So I’m excited about this because ultimately our customers will get more energy. And I’d like to use this opportunity to say a big thank you to TCN for this laudable project.
“I think that in the past, there’s always been a lot of TCN Disco quarrels. But today, you can see that this is the power of collaboration. TCN has listened to the Discos.
“They understand where our pain points are. And they have helped ensure that this project is delivered as and when due. I also want to say a big thank you to the Minister.
“Thank you very much for your support, your presence here, and the part you played in ensuring that this project ultimately happened as and when due. So thank you very much.
On her part, the Acting CEO of Eko Disco, Mrs Rekhiat Momoh said that the power transformer will help the company increase capacity. “We’ll use our load shedding to support our customers, and we’ll also be able to reactivate the solar loops to bear about the KMV feeders. Besides that, it will also help us to have alternate feeders.
“We’ll be able to reactivate the solar loops to bear about the KMV feeders that have been on for the past one and a half years. It will also help to create strength loops, meaning that once we have an alternate feeder, we’ll be able to serve the loop environment and the air environment better. And finally, I want to also say that with the reactivation of the alternate feeder communication, we’ll be able to also increase the evacuation level to increase our environment.
“And with this, whether you believe it or not, the customer will be very pleased with us. Our customer satisfaction will also improve and increase. And I want to say thank you to TCN MD and his team, and also to the Honourable Minister once again for this idea and commissioning,” she noted.