The Coalition of Northern Groups, (CNG), has expressed its deep concern over the power outage that has paralysed large parts of Northern Nigeria over the past five days.
Recall that the blackout has thrown millions of households into darkness, crippled businesses, and worsened the already dire economic situation in the region.
An issued statement yesterday, signed by CNG’s National Coordinator, Comrade Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi, said: “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 in order 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, after engaging with experts, learnt that there is also a significant infrastructural gap as there is no transmission system to carry sufficient 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.
“Additionally, over $500 million in savings, intended to support the Eastern Backbone transmission project -which would have connected key areas such as Sokoto, ?auran-Namoda, Katsina, and beyond — has been mismanaged, further delaying essential connectivity.
“With the destruction of the two 330kV single circuit (SC) lines between Shiroro and Kaduna, only one single circuit from Jos to Kaduna now supplies the entire North-West. Similarly, the North-East depends on a single circuit line, the Jos-Gombe 330kV, meaning both regions face severe limitations in power transmission infrastructure”.
The CNG said it observed that the North, which accounts for a significant portion of Nigeria’s population and economic activity, is “shamefully underserved in terms of electricity infrastructure and distribution”.
It said, “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.
“In addition, the current DisCo Load Allocation is alarmingly skewed. DisCos operating across the North — including Jos (60 MWs), Kaduna (50 MWs), Kano (20 MWs), and Yola (30 MWs) — receive only 160 MWs out of the existing 4,249 MWs capacity.
“In stark contrast, Lagos’s Eko and Ikeja DisCos cumulatively receive about 1,400 MWs, while Ibadan, Benin, Enugu, and Port Harcourt also benefit from significantly higher allocations. This allocation imbalance not only limits the North’s development potential but also reveals a pattern of systematic neglect.
“This current outage has in the last 120 hours pushed our already struggling industries to the brink of collapse, with businesses suffocating under prolonged power failure. Our people, who are already grappling with economic challenges, cannot continue to bear the brunt of such systemic inefficiencies. Hospitals can no longer save lives but allow patients to die helpless”.
The CNG called on the Nigerian, Transmission Company of Nigeria, and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to “explain the rationale behind this lopsided allocation, given that the North is home to most of Nigeria’s hydro-power stations”.
