By Constance Athekame
Many business owners in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have continued to count their losses following Monday’s grid collapse at about 6:48 p.m.
The business owners in Lugbe, Kubwa, Kuje, and Area 10 spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja yesterday.
The nation was thrown into darkness on Monday following the collapse of the national grid.
NAN reports that the collapse on Monday was the sixth in 2024.
However, power was restored to some parts of the country on Tuesday.
A welder, Mr Joseph Kasali, who lives in Kubwa, said that the grid collapse affected his business. He added that he was unable to work throughout Tuesday due to the blackout in his area.
According to him, these incessant grid collapses are not good enough for our businesses as they are negatively affecting us.
“I am appealing to the government to do everything within its power to avoid a recurrence of such incident,” he said.
For her part, Mrs Ruth Ayodeji, a fashion designer from Lugbe, said that the frequent grid collapse was affecting her business.
Ayodeji said that whenever such a blackout occurred, she could not sew to meet her customers’ demands.
She said the government should do everything possible to determine who was responsible for the collapse and put an end to it.
For his part, Mr Timothy Alohan, a barber in Kuje, said that whenever there was such a collapse, he was not always happy because he did not know when power would be restored.
Alohan said he was happy that power was restored on Tuesday, adding that the government should try to avoid such incidents as they affect his business.
“Buying fuel for a generator is not easy as the price of petrol has gone up, and it is not easy buying solar to power your business as it costs so much to purchase,” he said.
Also speaking on the issue, Mr Shola Ogundimu, a printer at UTC, Area 10, said he sometimes sleeps in the shop to meet customers’ demands.
Ogundimu said that due to the grid collapse, he was not able to work on Monday night, so he disappointed a customer who was supposed to collect his job on Tuesday.
“Please, I am urging the government and those in charge of maintaining the grid to do everything possible to investigate the problem causing the collapse,” he said.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) announced on Tuesday that efforts to fully recover the national grid after a partial disturbance on Monday were almost complete.
In a statement on Tuesday, Mrs Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s General Manager of Public Affairs, said the recovery process commenced swiftly, with Azura Power Station providing the necessary black start.
She said that by 10:24 a.m. on Tuesday, the grid recovery had reached advanced stages, in spite of encountering a brief challenge that caused a minor setback.
