The Federal Government has assured Nigerians that electricity supply will begin to improve within 48 to 72 hours as efforts intensify to restore affected power generation facilities and address gas supply challenges.
Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, gave the assurance amid worsening electricity shortages affecting Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and two other states.
Tegbe attributed the decline in power supply to scheduled maintenance at Egbin Power Station, inadequate gas supply to thermal plants and alleged sabotage of critical transmission lines.
He explained that the challenges had reduced electricity available on the national grid, forcing operators to ration available power through load shedding in affected locations.
The minister particularly identified sabotage of transmission infrastructure as a major setback to alternative electricity supply routes, especially in Lagos.
According to him, the government is working with relevant operators to restore the affected generating units in stages, with the first units expected to resume operations within the next two to three days.
He added that efforts were also underway to improve gas delivery to power stations and fast-track repairs to damaged transmission infrastructure.
Acknowledging the hardship caused by the outages, Tegbe apologised to households and businesses affected by the disruption and promised further updates as the situation improves.
The minister had on November 4 directed the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) and electricity distribution companies to tackle operational problems contributing to the decline in power generation.
NISO had earlier linked the reduction in available electricity to insufficient gas supply to thermal power plants and falling water inflows into hydroelectric reservoirs.
The crisis has also triggered disagreements between TCN and Ikeja Electric over the factors responsible for the persistent outages.