Abuja, environs in darkness as electricity workers shut facilities

The Nigerian capital, Abuja, and its environs were thrown into darkness Monday after electricity workers shut down power distribution facilities for several hours.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria said the evacuation of bulk power from electricity substations was disrupted following a shutdown of the facilities belonging to the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) by the company’s in-house workers’ union.

It was not immediately clear what issues led to the shutdown, but residents of Abuja reported outage for most of Monday.

The areas under AEDC franchise include Abuja, Nasarawa, Kogi, Parts of Edo, Niger and Kaduna States.

“The Management of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN hereby inform the general public that it has available bulk power for delivery to the distribution load centres of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) to offtake for its customers,” said a statement signed by Ndidi Mbah GM, Public Affairs of the Transmission Commission of Nigeria.

“However, power evacuation from injection substations across AEDC franchise area has been disrupted following a shutdown of the AEDC facilities by its in-house workers’ union.

“TCN regrets this disruption and assures Nigerians that normal bulk power delivery to AEDC will be restored as soon as the injection substations are opened for onward electricity supply to consumers,” the statement said.