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In a troubling development for Nigeria, the national power grid experienced yet another collapse on Saturday, plunging vast areas of the country into darkness.

This incident marks the eighth failure of the grid this year, with a concerning trend of outages occurring throughout October, despite assurances from the government regarding the implementation of effective solutions to the ongoing power crisis.

At precisely 2:35 PM, reports confirmed that power generation had come to a complete standstill across all facilities, effectively halting operations nationwide.

This latest breakdown follows a significant failure on October 19, with another disruption just two days later, which was linked to a fire at the Jebba transmission station, as reported by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

The situation raises urgent questions about the reliability of the country’s power infrastructure and the government’s commitment to resolving these persistent issues.

Ndidi Mbah, the General Manager of Public Affairs at TCN, highlighted a significant historical decline in grid disturbances, revealing that there were 85 incidents reported between 2015 and 2019.

In a remarkable turnaround, only 20 disturbances have been recorded since 2020, marking a substantial reduction of 76.47%. However, challenges remain, as the total number of grid collapses has reached 105.

In a recent statement, Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu highlighted the deteriorating state of infrastructure as a significant contributor to the persistent blackouts plaguing the nation.

His remarks come at a time when the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has raised alarms about how these frequent power outages are jeopardizing the advancements achieved in stabilizing the electricity grid and tackling the pressing issues related to existing infrastructure.

The ongoing challenges in Nigeria’s power sector have drawn attention to the urgent need for infrastructure upgrades, as emphasized by Minister Adelabu.