*Barau claims bandits preventing repair work on facilities
Sunday Aborisade in Abuja
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, assured Nigerians Tuesday that electricity supply would be restored to the northern part of the country within 72 hours.
Adelabu disclosed this when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Power on some developments in the power sector.
He was responding to questions from senators regarding the power outage affecting the region and the recurring grid collapses across the country.
On October 22, the Transmission Company of Nigeria reported an outage in the North-East, North-West, and parts of North-Central Nigeria after the 330-kilovolt (kV) Ugwaji-Apir double circuit transmission lines 1 and 2 tripped.
According to Nafisatu Ali, Executive Director of the Independent System Operator, the Shiroro-Kaduna transmission line supplying power to the North was vandalized by insurgents.
In response, President Bola Tinubu directed the military to provide security for workers repairing the power lines.
As a temporary measure, Adelabu stated that power would be supplied through the Ugwuaji-Makurdi transmission line, which could cover approximately 80% of affected states.
“Power will be restored to the North in two to three days. We will use the Ugwuaji-Makurdi transmission line for temporary purpose,” he said.
He added that efforts were underway to access the damaged grid with the assistance of security agencies.
He said, “Once fully accessible, the damaged lines will be repaired, allowing for a complete restoration of power to the affected areas.
“We are working with security agencies to access the grid currently occupied by vandals.
“I assure you that within the next 14 days, the repairs will be completed, and power will be fully restored to the North”, he stressed.
Earlier In a related department in plenary, the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jibrin spoke on the power outage in the North while presiding over the plenary.
He said: “Let me seize the opportunity to inform the Senate that the leadership of the Senate is concerned about the lack of electricity supply in the northern part of this country.
“This is because the transmission line, which supplies power to the North, has been vandalised and it has become a problem for the TCN staff to get it restored because that area is being occupied by terrorists.
“Security agencies are working to get to the spot and eradicate or remove the threat that has been there for a while.
“It’s an arrangement that will not be said to the public because that would compromise the arrangement or the preparation the security agencies are making to deal with the matter.
*So, the President has ordered and directed the security agencies to do all within their powers to ensure they deal with that threat.”