Electricity workers have shut down the National Grid as the strike action called by the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress began at midnight.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, disclosed that the workers unions chased away its workers.
In a statement by TCN General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, the Labour Union had shut down the national grid, at about 2.19 a.m. this morning, resulting in a nationwide blackout.
She stated that at about 1:15am, the Benin Transmission Operator under the Independent System Operations unit of TCN reported that all operators were driven away from the control room and that staff that resisted were beaten, while some were wounded in the course of forcing them out.
On the power generating side, the general manager added that power generating units from different generating stations were forced to shut down some units of their generating plants
According to her, the sudden forced load cuts led to high frequency and system instability, which eventually shut down the national grid at 2:19 a.m.
She further stated that efforts will be made to recover and stabilize the grid to enable the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres nationwide.
Checks on grid data posted by the Independent System Operator showed that generation at midnight was 2,805.59 megawatts but dropped gradually to 28 MW at 6 a.m. on Monday with only Ibom Power on the grid.