Afrigather 
In Nigeria, the place energy cuts are a traditional a part of life, one establishment stays stubbornly dedicated to this nationwide pastime: the Nigeria Nationwide Grid. It’s as if the grid has determined to audition for a Guinness World Report in “Most Frequent System Failures,” with October 2024 already offering sufficient materials for a whole season of collapses. Why, you ask, does the nationwide grid hold collapsing? Nicely, the explanations are as various and sophisticated as Lagos’s visitors jams. Let’s discover this tragicomedy.
The Grid wanted a nap
First issues first, let’s be clear—Nigeria’s energy technology is like making an attempt to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool with a teaspoon. The nation generates a measly 4,000 to 4,500 megawatts of electrical energy for a inhabitants of round 200 million folks. That’s the equal of making an attempt to cost your smartphone with a potato, after which questioning why the battery share refuses to budge. So, in fact, the Nigeria Nationwide Grid collapses each time somebody a lot as flips on an additional mild swap in Lagos.
The grid is like an overworked civil servant who’s had one too many duties thrown at them, besides this civil servant is predicted to energy properties, companies, and industries throughout an enormous nation. It merely can’t address the overwhelming demand. Think about telling 200 million folks, “Sorry, we’ve solely obtained sufficient energy for about 10 of you at any given time.” Naturally, the grid decides it’s higher to break down altogether than to take care of this monumental disappointment. Like an exhausted worker, it simply takes an impromptu nap, plunging the nation into yet one more blackout.
Sabotage or characteristic? You resolve
One idea making the rounds is that the frequent collapses will not be accidents in any respect however moderately “options” of the grid. In case you’ve ever used software program that crashes continuously, you’ll know that builders generally declare it’s a “characteristic, not a bug.” May or not it’s that Nigeria’s Nationwide Grid operates on this very precept? Perhaps somebody, someplace within the labyrinth of paperwork, has determined that Nigerians don’t deserve/want fixed energy provide. In any case, candlelight dinners are romantic, and who wouldn’t need a little bit of nostalgia with kerosene lamps lighting up the lounge?
Gear? What tools?
The Nigeria Nationwide Grid is barely pretty much as good as its elements, which appear to vary from historical relics to, nicely, barely newer historical relics. If one had been to peek into the workings of the grid, one may uncover tools that was put in when color tv was nonetheless thought-about cutting-edge expertise. Sustaining such a fragile, outdated system is like making an attempt to maintain a 50-year-old automobile operating easily on day by day long-distance drives. A spark right here, a wire there, and poof—darkness. Who wants fancy modernisation once you’ve obtained historical past operating by way of your electrical strains?
The ghost of energy previous
One other offender on this drama is the mysterious “load imbalance” or, as I choose to name it, “the ghost of energy previous.” You see, the Nigeria Nationwide Grid is extremely unhealthy at distributing energy. Some components of the nation get an excessive amount of electrical energy, and others don’t even get sufficient to boil a kettle. This delicate steadiness is like taking part in Jenga with nuclear gasoline rods—eventually, one thing’s going to tip over, and down goes the grid.
The blame recreation: Who wants accountability?
Lastly, we should give a nod to the intricate and entertaining recreation of “Not My Fault.” Each time the grid collapses, there’s an instantaneous refrain of explanations—none of which contain anybody really taking accountability. It’s both the fault of the distribution firms, the producing firms, or, in fact, the residents themselves, for anticipating energy within the first place. The reality? We’ll by no means know. However relaxation assured, the Nigeria Nationwide Grid will hold collapsing till somebody figures it out and there’s a real overhaul of the system with unprecedented enhancements.
In conclusion, why does the Nigeria Nationwide Grid hold collapsing? As a result of, pricey reader, that’s simply the way it’s designed: with a aptitude for drama, a contact of incompetence, and a sprinkle of chaos.
