• Electricity workers ground country’s grid supply
• Why we called off strike – Oil workers
Businesses and commercial activities in Nigeria’s small scale industry nationwide were on Thursday grounded as the record fall in power supply was worsened by the crash in the supply of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as fuel.
While the slide in electricity generation to a dismal level of 1,580.6 Megawatt (MW) continued to subject millions of Nigerians to longer spells of darkness, the shutdown of facilities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) by oil workers yesterday toughen the agony of fuel scarcity, currently rocking the country.
The oil workers called off the two-day old strike yesterday. Like the oil workers who shut down the oil industry for two days due to the alleged unbundling of the NNPC, the electricity workers were said to have also inflicted partial system collapse on the grid.
Rising under the auspices of the Nigerian Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), the electricity workers made good their threat to create a clog in the wheel of electricity generation and supply due to the alleged sack of 400 staff by the management of Ikeja Electric (IE) formerly known as Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) Figures from the website of the Nigerian Systems Operations Department of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Thursday showed that the country was generating a mere 1,580.6MW which was distributed to the 11 electricity distribution companies (DISCOs).
The past few weeks have recorded a lot of instability in the power generation due to system failures and acts of vandalism across the country, leading to attempts at rationing by distribution companies. New Telegraph gathered that the epileptic supply has been deeply impacting on commercial and domestic activities.
The small scale business owners and consumers continued to groan under intense heat and business collapse, while power generation through private arrangement has been blighted by the fuel scarcity.
“I have been looking for fuel since 5a.m. I got here and have been on a queue at this filling station since 6:30a.m. this morning. Up till 11a.m., we have not been able to get fuel at least five litres to power generator for my shop,” a welder who simply identified himself as Waheed told New Telegraph at Rakab filling station in Lafenwa, Ayobo Lagos State. His view was corroborated by Mrs. Iyabo Adelamo, who was forced to buy fuel at N200 per litre from the black market in Iyana -Ipaja for her petty pepper grinding machine. “I could not work at all yesterday.
Today, I have to buy petrol from at the Iyana- Ipaja at the rate of N200 per litre,” she said. “We were told that electricity and oil workers were on strike, no light, no fuel, and no money because our businesses are the worst hit by this situation,” she added. According to the TCN’s System Operations, the lower generation automatically degenerated into lower power allocation to the 11 electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) across the country.
The power allocation data showed that Ikeja received 234.09 MW; Abuja, 181.77MW; Eko, 173.87MW; Benin, 142.25MW; Enugu, 142.25MW; Ibadan 205.48; Jos, 86.93MW; Kano, 126.45MW; Kaduna, 126.45MW; Port Harcourt, 102.74MW and Yola got 55.32MW accordingly. The drop in power generation started last week after the nation recorded about 4200MW on daily average, from the peak generation of 5074MW on February 3.
The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) had estimated the nation’s electricity demand at 160,000MW, with the national grid managing a capacity of 6,020MW. But the Assistant General Manager (Public Affairs), TCN, Clement Ezeolisah, said there was no system collapse, attributing the generation slide to the ongoing labour dispute in the power sector. “We have not recorded any system collapse since the beginning of 2016, and all hands are on deck to keep it that way,” he said.
Organised Private Sector (OPS) has warned the Federal Government to intervene in the ongoing economic crisis in the country, saying that the crisis over fuel and energy is taking 65 per cent of their profits every year.
National President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Chief Frank Jacobs, told New Telegraph that manufacturers operating in the country are passing through tough times due to the harsh economic environment.
He said that the amount of money spends on Automotive Gas Oil runs into billions of naira due to the irregular power supply in the country. “Erratic power supply and billions spend on AGO are not acceptable as they are impeding growth of business,” the MAN president said.
Chairman, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Small and Medium Scale Enterprise Group (SMEG), John Kachikwu, in a chat with New Telegraph yesterday, said that manufacturers were spending billions of naira on AGO to power their generating sets.
He said that many manufacturers were experiencing difficulties in their businesses due to the harsh operating environment caused by government’s economic policies. “It is a bit of a terrible situation now for manufacturers operating in Nigeria because in the short run, we are going to retrench staff soon.
We are going to (Click on the link below to read more)
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This is the kind of news Buhari will hear and he will just look for one country and jettison off to.