Six Universities, 18 Others Seek Permit to Quit National Grid, Generate Own Power Sources
Frustrated by persistent power outages and soaring costs of diesel generators, six Nigerian universities and the Nigerian Defense Academy in Kaduna have opted to generate own electricity sources.
Telecoms giant MTN Nigeria and 16 other companies have also followed suit forwarding a formal request to the federal ministry of power permits to formally exit the national grid.
Decraying incessant grid collapse and resultant power cuts the 25 institutions and businesses said they are “choosing instead to generate their own electricity through captive power arrangements”.
According to a source, the environmentswatch.ng gathered the mass exit lies in Nigeria’s troubled power grid which often plunge the entire country into darkness.
Without adequate warnings from the national regulatory authority and DisCos, of imminent power cuts, they have individually incurred losses in millions of Naira. “Not taking account of the “cost of powering our facilities through standby generators amounts to waste”, they said.
The universities on their part said they can no longer afford the loss of research materials in their laboratories thus the need to source alternative to national grid.
With generation capacity fluctuating between 3,000 megawatts and 4,500 megawatts
national grid has often plunged the entire country into darkness without warning.