The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu has said the national electricity grid will remain prone to collapse due to the Federal Government’s inability to repair a crucial transmission line in Northern Nigeria owing to persistent insecurity.
Adelabu made this remark on Monday while speaking at the 2025 budget defence session with the Senate Joint Committee on Power.
Reeling out the Ministry challenges, Adelabu said the impact of the damaged Shiroro-Kaduna-Mando line has been out of service since a vandalism incident in October 2024.
According to him, this failure has placed immense pressure on the grid, leading to frequent collapses.
Adelabu noted, “The Kaduna-Shiroro-Mando line was one of the two major lines transmitting power to the north. The second, the Ugwuaji-Makurdi line, was also vandalized but has been repaired. The Shiroro-Mando-Kaduna line, however, remains down due to insecurity.
“This is why our grid is so fragile, as it relies on a single line, causing unnecessary strain.”
Furthermore, the minister equally announced an N2 trillion budget for the ministry and its agencies, out of which N229 billion belongs to the ministry and also plans to invest N36 billion in the distribution of transformers across the six geopolitical zones.
Also, As part of efforts to address insecurity, Adelabu has proposed the installation of solar lights and Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras on highways across the country, aimed at monitoring the movements of vandals and other criminal elements, enhancing security and protecting critical infrastructure.