The National Union of Electricity Workers have shut down the National Grid as a strike called by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) began at midnight.
The strike led to a significant drop in electricity generation, from 2,805.59 megawatts at midnight to just 28 megawatts by 6 a.m. on Monday, with only Ibom Power remaining on the grid.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) reported that workers unions chased away its workers, leading to a nationwide blackout. The shutdown occurred at 2:19 a.m. on June 3, 2024.
The Benin Transmission Operator under the Independent System Operations unit of TCN reported that all operators were driven away from the control room and that some staff were beaten and wounded while trying to resist.
Other transmission substations, including Ganmo, Benin, Ayede, Olorunsogo, Akangba, and Osogbo, were also shut down.
On the power generating side, power generating units from different generating stations were forced to shut down some units of their generating plants.
The Jebba Generating Station was forced to shut down one of its generating units, while three others in the same substation subsequently shut down at high frequency. This led to high frequency and system instability, eventually shutting down the national grid.
TCN commenced grid recovery at 3:23 a.m. using the Shiroro Substation to attempt to feed transmission lines supplying bulk electricity to the Katampe Transmission Substation.
However, the labour union is still obstructing grid recovery nationwide. TCN will continue to make efforts to recover and stabilize the grid to enable the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centers nationwide.
