Grid Collapse: One Nigerian state shines at night when others are in darkness. This is why

While other Nigerian states are in darkness because the country’s electricity grid frequently collapses, residents of Akwa Ibom State most often enjoy electricity supply courtesy of the state’s independent power plant.

PREMIUM TIMES reported the collapse of the electricity grid on Tuesday, barely 24 hours after Monday’s collapse.

The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Plc (PHED), which distributes electricity in Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross River, and Akwa Ibom States, issued a statement on Tuesday, 15 October, around 6 a.m., informing its customers that the outage in its areas of coverage was caused by the “loss of supply from the grid.”

PHED mentioned Cross River and Rivers States as being among the areas that experienced power outages – Akwa Ibom was not included.

Bayelsa State has been in darkness since July because vandals destroyed 13 towers on the Ahoada-Yenagoa 132kV Double Circuit transmission line. The power plant established by the Bayelsa State Government had long become moribund.

On 6 July, when a similar collapse of the electricity grid occurred, PHED released a statement, informing the public that while other areas were out of supply, its customers in Akwa Ibom were enjoying supply through the Ibom Power Plant.

Ibom Power Plant, located in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of the state, was established by Governor Victor Attah’s administration. It began commercial operations in 2009.

The plant, which buys natural gas from Savannah Energy to produce electricity, has an installed capacity of 191 megawatts, although its licensed capacity is 685 megawatts.

Praise for a governor’s vision

Borono Bassey, a public relations specialist in Uyo, Akwa Ibom, praised the former governor, Mr Attah, for his vision to set up the power plant.

“If you’re looking to understand how a former governor’s vision and investment for the people who voted him to lead can positively outlive him, then a reliable lens to use would be the unfortunate event that happened yesterday,” Mr Bassey said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

He was commenting on Monday’s grid collapse.

“News filtered in yesterday that the national grid had collapsed at about 6:53 p.m., throwing the ‘entire’ nation into darkness.

“With the darkness, most Nigerians took to social media to express their frustration with the collapse and, of course, the different plagues they’ve faced as citizens in this country.

“However, people residing in Akwa Ibom State have been exempted from this particular orchestra of national lamentation as we are currently enjoying power supply,” Mr Bassey, a former spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party in Akwa Ibom, added, while also praising successive administrations in the state “for maintaining this very strategic investment through the years”.

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Power restoration

On Tuesday, 15 October, around 5 p.m., PHED issued another statement informing that power had been restored in the states that experienced an outage.

“We sincerely appreciate our customers for their patience and understanding during the outage,” the power company said in the statement.