Strike : TCN manager, Mba speaks on the alleged shutdown of national grid by NLC, TUC

By Cyprian Ebele, Onitsha

The transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, on Monday

accused the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC for allegedly shutting down the national grid.

The public Affairs general Manager, Ndidi MBA, made this known in a statement signed and issued to newsmen in Anambra State.

Mba said that the shutting down of the national grid by the two unions resulted in black out nationwide.

The statement reads in part: “The national grid was shut down at about 2.19am this morning, adding that att about 1:15am today 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, resulting in 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.

“At about 3.23am, however, TCN commenced grid recovery, 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.

“We will continue to make effort to recover and stabilize the grid to enable the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres nationwide,” it stated.