The national grid, yesterday, crashed to zero megawatts, throwing businesses and homes across the country into darkness as workers at the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) embarked on strike.?
?This latest grid collapse, nearly the 10th this year, is coming amid the high cost of diesel, which is already hovering above N800 per liter, as well as the increasing cost of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) despite the over N5 trillion subsidy currently being paid by the Federal Government.?
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Although the power sector was privatized about eight years ago, the transmission segment, which wheels electricity from the generation plants to the distribution segment is still controlled by the government.?
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The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) had called for immediate industrial action with a threat to withdraw service yesterday.?
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Nigeria may record over N3 billion losses daily over the strike action embarked upon by electricity workers. Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc earlier stated that electricity invoices in the country average N60 billion monthly from the national grid, translating to about N720 billion every year. With existing subsidies being incurred by the government, the daily cost of the strike may hover around N3 billion.?