Metro

Black Weekend: Nigeria’s electricity grid collapses again! It’s third time in month

Published

1 year ago

April 9, 2022

According to Nigeria’s Ministry of Power, the West African country’s national electricity grid has for the third time in less than a month collapsed, leaving major Nigerian cities in blackouts this weekend.

The news of the collapse was made known in a statement signed by Isa Sanusi, SA (Media) for the Honourable Minister of the Ministry of Power. The statement said a system collapse occurred at 18:30 hours on Friday, April 8.

The development is in contrast to the assurance given to the Nigerian public after the last collapse in March, when the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), which manages the grid said it had developed alternative ways of managing the grid.

The Ministry in another statement blamed the grid collapse on an act of vandalism on a transmission tower on the Odukpani-Ikot Ekpene 330KV double circuit transmission, therefore, resulting in a sudden loss of about 400MW of generation.”

.@HMPowerNG: We wish to notify the public that power on the grid is being restored sequentially by the System Operator as other on-grid power plants are being dispatched to cover the lost generation capacity from the Calabar power plant owned by Niger Power Holding Company Ltd.”

— Government of Nigeria (@NigeriaGov) April 9, 2022

It added that other on-grid power plants are being dispatched to cover the lost generation capacity from the Calabar power plant owned by Niger Power Holding Company Ltd.

Nigeria’s energy crisis persists despite lots of investment in the sector and international collaborations to get one of Africa’s biggest economies out of the darkness. In 2019, Nigeria’s Federal Government entered a partnership deal with Germany-based firm, Siemens under the Presidential Power Initiative to increase Nigeria’s electricity from the current 4,500 megawatts (MW) to 25,000 MW but not much has been achieved to better Nigeria’s electricity lots.

Currently, only 45% of Nigeria’s population is connected to the energy grid whilst power supply difficulties are experienced around 85% of the time and are almost nonexistent in certain regions.At best, the average daily power supply is estimated at four hours,although several days can go by without any power at all.

Related Topics:electricity Featured national grid Nigeria

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Metro

Rwandan President, Kagame sacks over 200 military personnel in major shake-up

Published

10 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

Rwandan President, Paul Kagame has sacked over 200 soldiers including top military brass and commanders from the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) in a massive shake-up.

The dismissed officers include the former Commander of the Reserve Forces, Maj. Gen. Aloys Muganga, and Brig. Gen. Francis Mutiganda, a former Head of External Security in the National Intelligence Services, as well as 14 senior officers.

The announcement of the sacking of the officers which was contained in a statement released by the RDF on Wednesday, did not give reason for the sackings, but the move come a day after the president reshuffled the top echelon of the country’s military, which saw the firing of the Defence Minister and an Army Chief.

The sacking of the soldiers has further heightened tension between Rwanda and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, with each side accusing the other of working with rebels to topple one another’s governments, according to reports in local media.

Metro

UN war crimes court declares Rwandan genocide suspect, Felicien Kabuga unfit to stand trial

Published

10 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

An 88-year-old Rwandan genocide suspect, Felicien Kabuga has been declared unfit to stand trial by judges at a United Nations War Crimes Court in The Hague.

In a decision published by the court on Wednesday, the judges acknowledged that Kabuga was no longer able to actively participate in his trial, and rather proposed an alternative process that aims to resemble a trial but does not allow for a conviction instead of stopping the proceedings completely.

“The trial chamber finds Mr. Kabuga is no longer capable of meaningful participation in his trial,” the publication said.

“The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, therefore, finds that Mr. Kabuga is not fit for trial and is very unlikely to regain fitness in the future.

“It is therefore agreed to adopt an alternative finding procedure that resembles a trial as closely as possible, but without the possibility of a conviction,” it added.

Kabuga who was arrested in Paris where he had been in hiding under a false identity for several years, was one of the most wanted suspects of the Rwandan genocide, and was charged at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda with genocide and crimes against humanity.

At his initial arraignment in September last year, the ICC heard that Kabuga was alleged to have been the main financier of the ethnic Hutu militias who slaughtered over 800,000 minority Tutsis as well as political opponents during the genocide in 1994.

According to the UN, Kabuga, a wealthy businessman from the Hutu ethnic group, had established and financed an infamous media outfit, Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), which was notorious for inciting violence and promoting the targeting and elimination of individuals from the Tutsi ethnic group who were referred to as “Cockroaches”.

Kabuga was arrested in Paris in 2020 after decades on the run and sent for trial in The Hague where he pleaded not guilty to charges of sponsoring the infamous Hutu radical radio station urging people to kill Tutsi “cockroaches”.

He also denied supplying machetes and supporting the murderous Interahamwe Hutu militia.