The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to expedite the restoration of power in Nigeria’s 17 northern states and address the security challenges that have hindered repairs to vandalized power facilities.
This appeal was made by CITAD’s Executive Director, Y. Z. Ya’u, during an event on Monday titled Energy and Economic Crisis in Northern Nigeria: The Way Forward.
He emphasized that the recent collapse of Nigeria’s power grid has intensified the region’s water scarcity crisis, disrupted businesses, and severely impacted telecommunications services.
“Electricity is the backbone of telecommunications,” Ya’u noted.
“When telecommunications systems fail, banking and business operations are also disrupted. If this national grid collapse persists, it will lead to unprecedented damage.”
At the event, the Chief Technical Officer of Kano Electricity Distribution Company, Engr. Kasim Abdullahi expressed optimism that power would be restored soon, as the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is working diligently to fix the vandalized equipment.
“We have two transmission lines from Shiroro to Kaduna. The first line developed a fault on September 9th, so we switched to the second line, which was supplying power to Kaduna, Kano, and surrounding areas,” he explained.
He continued, “I’m told they are still addressing multiple faults on the lines coming from Makurdi to Jos and Kaduna. This prolonged outage is beyond our control, as I work in distribution while TCN handles transmission. We’re hopeful repairs will be completed anytime, today or tomorrow.”
Dr. Ahmad Sarari, former President of the Motion Picture Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MOPPAN), highlighted the impact of the power outage on the creative industry, stating that over 6,000 studios in Kano alone have been forced to halt operations.
“When we talk about the creative industry, we’re referring to the creative and digital economy,”Sarari explained.
“Thousands of YouTubers and TikTok creators are unable to upload content due to connectivity issues caused by the power shortage. We have content creators who record, edit, and upload videos weekly. Now, without electricity, this work has stopped. Many are losing their audiences.”
Sarari concluded that the government must prioritize restoring and securing a stable energy supply for northern Nigeria to support the region’s economic activities.
