Nigeria’s electricity grid collapsed on Friday afternoon after it had earlier witnessed an intense disruption the preceding day following the industrial action by electricity workers across the country.

Different power distribution companies stated on Friday that the grid collapsed again after workers had suspended their industrial action.

On Thursday, members of National Union of Electricity Employees suspended their one-day strike after their action disrupted the country’s grid for several hours.

Transmission Company of Nigeria commenced restoration of the grid after the workers suspended their strike, only for the grid to collapse again on Friday afternoon.

In a notice on its Twitter handle on Friday, Eko Electricity Distribution Company, said, “Dear customers, at exactly 1309hrs (1.09pm) we experienced another system collapse, affecting parts of the country.

“TCN team is working to restore supply. Please bear with us as we expect supply soon.”

EEDC had expressed hope that the grid would be energised fully after the suspension of the strike, but this was punctured by another collapse on Friday.

Also, Jos Electricity Distribution Plc tweeted on Friday that “we regret to inform you that after brief restoration, the system has collapsed once again. However, we are optimistic, supply will be restored soon. We apologise for the inconveniences you are experiencing. Thank you for your continued patience.”

Power generation figures obtained from TCN on Friday showed that the instability of the grid in the past two days led to a situation where no electricity was stated as generated for December 10, 11, 12 and 13.

The most recent power generation figures from the transmission company were that of December 9, 2019, when the grid recorded 4,292.7 megawatts as peak generation and 3,507MW as lowest quantum of power for same day.

This came as Abuja Electricity Distribution Company announced that some of its customers living and working in the city’s Central Area, Wuse Zone 1-7, Maitama and some parts of Jabi would experience power interruption on Saturday, December 14 and Sunday, December 15, 2019.

It said the interruption would be experienced from 9am to 6pm in order to enable the Abuja region of TCN maintenance team in conjunction with the AEDC to undertake the replacement of a punctured 132kV XLPE cable on the Katampe – Central Area 132kV Line 1.

Punch