Labour union members effecting the indefinite industrial action have shut down the national grid, according to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
The company said the grid went down at about 2.19 am on Monday when labour members sent workers at transmission centres away from control rooms.
The strike being effected by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) is to force the government to agree to its demand of N497,000 minimum wage.
The TCN, in a statement signed by its general manager Ndidi Mbah, said: “The Transmission Company of Nigeria hereby informs the general public that the Labour Union has shut down the national grid, resulting in a blackout nationwide.”
Ms Mbah added, “At about 1:15am this morning, 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 staff that resisted were beaten while some were wounded in the course of forcing them out of the control room and without any form of control or supervision, the Benin Area Control Center was brought to zero.
“Other transmission substations that were shut down, by the Labour Union include the Ganmo, Benin, Ayede, Olorunsogo, Akangba and Osogbo Transmission Substations.
“Some transmission lines were equally opened due to the ongoing activities of the labour union.
“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 on very high frequency.
“The sudden forced load cuts led to high frequency and system instability, which eventually shut down the national grid at 2:19am.”
The TCN, however, said grid recovery commenced at about 3:23 am, using the Shiroro substation to attempt to feed the transmission lines supplying bulk electricity to the Katampe transmission substation.
“The situation is such that the labour Union is still obstructing grid recovery nationwide,” the firm said.
The transmission company said it would continue to make effort to recover and stabilise the grid to enable the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres nationwide.
