Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu said the national grid is outdated and the Nigerians would have to cope with blackouts till the system is 100 percent updated.
Mr. Adelabu who was speaking during a courtesy call on the Kano State governor, Abba Yusuf said the frequent grid collapse in the country, which caused power outage in the parts of the northern states is regrettable.
Mr Adelabu said the federal government was overhauling the national grid to reduce the frequent disturbances in the system and improve power supply across the country.
He said that the national grid was over 50 years old, with weak, obsolete, and dilapidated components including the lines and substations with old transformers.
Mr Adelabu said most of the towers installed on the system a long time ago were falling due to the effects of weather and climate change, adding that they needed continuous maintenance.
The minister said: “This grid requires a lot of money to maintain. So, what we have now, we will continue to manage it and prevent frequent disturbances until we are able to overhaul this infrastructure 100 per cent.’’
Mr Adelabu said the federal government was revamping the entire grid structure as various programmes were being put in place to ensure that old infrastructure was replaced.
He listed the programmes to include the Presidential Power Initiative known as the Siemens project, which is currently ongoing.
According to him, there is also the Transmission Company of Nigeria’s expansion programme supported by the World Bank and the African Development Bank.
