The report of Nigeria’s power grid collapse on Wednesday, crashing from 3,921.8 megawatts that was generated at 6am to as low as 50MW around 12.23pm, causing widespread blackout across the country dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Punch reports that Nigeria’s power grid collapsed again on Wednesday, as it crashed from the 3,921.8 megawatts that was generated at 6am to as low as 50MW around 12.23pm, causing widespread blackout across the country.
Industry figures obtained from the Federal Ministry of Power in Abuja showed that power generation on the grid had hit a peak of 4,091.6MW on Tuesday.
But this dropped to 3,921.8MW on Wednesday morning, before crashing to about 50MW, a development that led to the eventual collapse of the national electricity grid.
Additional data on the country’s distribution load profile seen by our correspondent revealed that only the Abuja and Ibadan distribution companies received 40MW and 10MW of electricity load respectively as at 12.23pm on Wednesday.
Other Discos got zero allocation due to the system failure as at the time of the power grid collapse.
Some power distribution companies confirmed the collapse various notifications to their customers, for instance, the Eko Electricity Distribution Company said the grid collapse occurred at about 11:27am.
In a tweet via its verified Twitter handle, the firm said, “Dear customers, we regret to inform you of a system collapse on the national grid at precisely 11:27am today, Wednesday, July 20.
“We are in talks with the Transmission Company of Nigeria to ascertain the cause of the collapse and a possible restoration timeline. We will keep you updated on the situation.”
The newspaper says that the Federal Government and labour unions on Wednesday clashed over the groups’ refusal to back down on its planned two-day nationwide protests scheduled for July 26 and 27.
No fewer than 40 unions, including the aviation workers will participate in the rally called in solidarity with the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities which has shut down public universities since February 14 over the failure of the government to meet its demands.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on Wednesday said the protest was illegal since the Nigeria Labour Congress had no pending disputes with the government but the congress retorted that it would go on with the protest, saying the freedom to protest is guaranteed by the constitution.
ASUU had embarked on a one-month warning strike on February 14 to press home its demand for the implementation of the October 2009 ASUU/FGN agreement.
The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Educational Institutions and National Association of Academic Technologists later joined the industrial action.
In May, the ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, announced the extension of the three-month prolonged strike by an additional three months.
In solidarity with ASUU, the NLC on July 17 announced that it would kick off a nationwide protest to pressure the federal government to resolve the crisis in the tertiary education sector.
The Guardian reports that as part of efforts to monitor global waters presently characterized by illegal and unreported fishing practices, the World Trade (WTO) has entered into agreement with member countries to deposit an instrument of acceptance at the door post of the world body for ratification within six to nine months.
The organization has established a $20 million rolling fund to enable countries, especially developing ones, to apply for the facility for improved capacity and management skills to run their fishery deposits in line with best practices.
The Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala disclosed this yesterday, when she paid an unscheduled visit to the Minister of State for Industry Trade and Investment, Ambassador Mariam Yalwaji Katagum in Abuja.
Okonjo–Iweala said the decision was reached at a recent WTO Ministerial Meeting 12 held in Geneva, Switzerland aimed at curbing illegal fishing practices going on across waters, especially of developing countries.
She, however, explained that for the agreement to get ratification and become effective, there is need for two-third of member states to deposit the instrument of acceptance at the WTO Director-General office in the next nine months.
Okojo-Iweala said, ‘’This Fisheries agreement is trying to stop something that is harmful to the sustainability of the world’s trade that allows nations to a very large extent, overfish the ocean of the world. Overfishing, illegal fishing or unreported fishing takes place on our waters. This is a very big problem for the world because; over 160 million people depend directly or indirectly on fisheries across the world, 12 million in Africa and if we don’t stop these harmful practices, which means that fishes will be depleted in our waters.
‘’77 per cent of fish stock are overfished. By 2015, it was around 35 percent, a recent study has shown that almost 50 percent over fishing is recorded in our stocks and it is mainly in the developing countries that do not have the capacity to monitor their waters.
‘’This agreement tries to curb the countries that allow this to happen, so we need to ratify the agreement with the deposition of the instruments of acceptance from countries at the WTO headquarters so that violators could be punished’’.
The newspaper says that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has heightened surveillance at the nation’s entry points to prevent an outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus disease (MVD), even as it said the country faces moderate risk of importation.
It said no case of the disease has been reported in the country but urged health workers to maintain a high index of suspicion and observe standard precautions, adding that its Incident Coordination Centre (ICC) is already in alert mode.
In a statement in Abuja, yesterday, NCDC Director General, Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, said there is no treatment or vaccine for MVD. However, infected persons could benefit from supportive care and treatment of specific symptoms, which improve chances of survival.
He assured that Nigeria has capacity to test for the virus at the National Reference Laboratory in Abuja and the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital Laboratory Centre for Human and Zoonotic Virology.
Adetifa said, given the proximity of Ghana to Nigeria and an alert by World Health Organisation (WHO), the NCDC-led multi-sectoral National Emerging Viral Haemorrhagic Diseases Working Group (EVHDWG), which coordinates preparedness for MVD and other emerging viral haemorrhagic diseases, has conducted a rapid risk assessment to guide in-country vigilance.
He said based on available data, overall risk of importation of the disease and potential impact on Nigerians are moderate.
The Nation reports that the Nigerian military has confirmed another Chibok girl, Ruth Bitrus, who escaped from Boko Haram captivity with her child, has been rescued.
Theatre Commander of Operations Hadin Kai, Major General GC Musa, stated this in Maiduguri at the official handing over of medical equipment donated to 7 Division Hospital by the North East Development Commission (NEDC).
“You would recall some weeks ago, we rescued two Chibokgirls and their children. I would like to inform you that we have rescued another, the third one now in the course of our operations, the theater commander said.
“We will not rest until on our oars. We will ensure that Leah Shaibu and others Chibokgirls are returned. We won’t rest until all of them are safely returned home,” Major General Musa said.
Some weeks ago, the troops had rescued Mary Dauda and Hauwa Joseph, two of the Chibok girls.
They were said to have escaped from Boko Haram camp in Gazuwa camp, located about 9 kilometres to Bama Local Government Area of Borno State.
GIK/APA