?The grid didn?t collapse three times in October. We had grid disturbances only two times. I think the first was on Monday (October 14) and the second yesterday (Saturday October 19). There was news that the grid collapsed again on Tuesday. That one was incorrect. On Monday, we were to fix the grid but had some setbacks?.

That was the managing director of the government-owned Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Sule Abdulaziz, disputing the initial account which suggested that the power grid collapsed for three days.

Going by the official account, the October 14 collapse, described as ?partial?, was due to the tripping of a line at the Jebba Transmission Substation and recurring fault at the Osogbo Transmission Substation.

On the other hand, the incident on October 19 was put to a deliberate protective shutdown of the grid as a result of the explosion of the Jebba transformer.

That the incident would be the seventh of such in the current year makes their occurrence too many.

So much for what appeared to be a cynical attempt to pass off a problem known to be endemic as normal occurrence, Nigerians must be relieved that key stakeholders are at least sufficiently embarrassed to demand prompt action.

First was Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, who last week summoned the leadership of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and TCN to an emergency meeting. Among the outcomes were a ?forensic investigation committee to advise the government on necessary solutions to make the national grid robust and reliable?, and, the empaneling of a six-member technical committee to assess the critical nodes on the national grid to identify potential vulnerabilities.

The committee is expected to turn its report in by November 1.

A no less embarrassed NERC would also bring together the Generation Companies (GenCos); Distribution Companies (DisCos); professional bodies; experts; civil society organisations (CSOs), and members of the general public, at its headquarters in Abuja, ostensibly to get to the root of the problem.

?We are here again and the commission?s intention is to truly give guidance towards finding a final solution to what is a very embarrassing moment for the country. In short, we have heard this story that infrastructure is old, fragile, low generation, free governor control, all these high-tech stories that we seem to repeat over and over again about finding a solution?, NERC chairman, Sanusi Garba, reportedly told participants at the parley.

Also at the meeting, the TCN?s managing director, Abdulaziz, represented by the Executive Director, Independent System Operator (ISO), Nafisat Ali, reeled out the usual challenges: the lack of ?Free Governor Control? by the generators causing negative frequency response, most times, system instability; generation inadequacy due to equipment fault; failure of generating stations to absorb or produce reactive power as well as non-harmonisation of gas pipeline and power plant units maintenance schedule, among others.

He also Identified other factors as non-compliance to annual maintenance schedule plan and lack of spinning reserve; the need for single circuits to be doubled, the insecurity and vandalism of power transmission equipment and other related facilities, among other major challenges.

In all, he blamed the incessant grid collapse on the defective and obsolete transmission equipment, relay settings and coordination, lack of reliability-centred maintenance, inadequate Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and communication equipment and inadequate voltage compensating devices.

Said the TCN boss: ?Most of the equipment we are using are over 40 to 50 years old. So it is not possible for that equipment to work perfectly. So we are doing our best. We know we can do more. But at least, we are getting to know the problems one by one?.

What is regrettable is not that the problems afflicting the grid are not known or already documented, but the official penchant for reminders only after things have gone wrong. What would the minister?s six-man committee come up with that the industry leaders, including the National Assembly which holds the purse, do not already know?

Truth is that the problem has actually been over-dissected. What Nigerians expect are those actions already taken to address the problems? How much of the funds voted to address those specific problems that have constituted the giant albatross have been released, and what measurable progress could be said to have been made? What additional steps are being taken to bridge whatever gaps between what has been done and what is required? In other words, when should Nigerians hope to begin to enjoy the stability as promised under the new power sector governance framework? This seems the least Nigerians could ask for after nearly two decades of the country?s power sector reform journey. (The Nation)

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