The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) on Sunday, has also voiced its concerns over the persistent power outages affecting parts of northern Nigeria, leaving millions of households in darkness and severely disrupting businesses.
They attributed the outages to vandalism of the second Shiroro Power Line, which supplies electricity to the Kaduna Station that distributes power to other northern states.
In a statement made by its national coordinator, Comrade Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi, the coalition expressed that: “We learnt too that the first other line has been faulty for months. Yet, no effort to fix it could have saved the current avoidable situation.
“We are particularly disheartened to learn that two towers along this line have not received serious attention at the beginning of the problem to promptly restore power. Furthermore, the only alternative source of supply, the Jos line, has repeatedly tripped, which the TCN currently said is working to fix, but cannot bring about a lasting solution. The current state of affairs is not just unacceptable but deeply alarming.”
The CNG also stated that after consulting with experts, it found a significant infrastructural gap, noting the absence of a transmission system capable of delivering adequate power to the North-west and North-east regions.
“Despite the establishment of the Transmission Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme (TREP) aimed at creating flexibility in transmission with a budget of $1.661 billion, mismanagement has hindered its progress.”
Furthermore, CNG stated that the north, which represents a large part of Nigeria’s population and economic activity, is unfortunately lacking in adequate electricity infrastructure and distribution.
“The region relies on only two 330kV lines while Lagos alone benefits from eight power lines. This disparity reflects a pattern of long-standing neglect and imbalance in national power infrastructure investment.”
However, It expressed dismay at the fact that the current DisCo load allocation is disproportionately unfavorable to the north.
“DisCos operating across the north—including Jos (60 MW), Kaduna (50 MW), Kano (20 MW) and Yola (30 MW) out of the existing 4,249 MW capacity. In stark contrast, Lagos’s Eko and Ikeja DisCos cumulatively receive about 1,400 MW, while Ibadan, Benin, Enugu, and Port Harcourt also benefit from significantly higher allocations. This current outage has, in the last 120 hours, pushed industries to the brink of collapse, with businesses suffocating under prolonged power failure.”
The CNG consequently urged the federal government, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), northern governors, lawmakers, and all relevant stakeholders to promptly accelerate efforts to restore power to the north.
Finally, the CNG called for a thorough review of the current electricity distribution framework to guarantee fair and equitable access to power in all regions.
