By Akinwale Kasali
For Eight weeks, Lagos residents, particularly those in Ikeja, Ogba, Oke Ira axis of the State and its environ would experience power shutdown.
Reason for this blackout for the said period is for the repair work that would be embarked on by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN.
The Source Magazine gathered that the aforementioned areas would be affected to enable the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, re-conduct its 132KV lines include Oregun, Police Training College, Oba Akran, Oke Ira, Ogba, Magodo, Anifowoshe and Omole Phase One.
Olajide Kumapayi, the Ikeja Electric Plc, Chief Technical Officer, said the power outage in the said areas would begin on October 11, 2021, with the sole aim of increasing the capacity of the transmission lines to wheel more power from the generation companies.
Commenting on the motive of the TCN in embarking on this project while briefing the media, Kumapayi noted that some of 132K lines installed over 50 years ago had become obsolete and degraded due to time and usage, hence the need for the upgrade.
According to him, the TCN is currently embarking on the upgrade of the 132KV lines from Ikeja West to Ota and Alimosho in stages. This is the second stage.
“The TCN is replacing all the aluminum conductors with gap conductors which is more sophisticated to withstand heat and has more capacity to carry current.
“The implication of this is that from 8a.m. to 6p.m. everyday, the substations controlling these areas will be switched off, which will affect the feeders connected to them.
“This will affect all categories of customers within the area especially our Maximum Demand (MD) customers such as Ikeja City Mall, Police College, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital and the Ikeja High Court.”
Kumapayi disclosed that the next phase of upgrading would be the Alimosho and Agege axis.
He noted that the upgrade was a power sector initiative to boost transmission and distribution of electricity to Nigerians.
TCN Head, Corporate Communications, Felix Ofulue, said that the DisCo had written to the MD customers notifying them of the situation, adding that the company was also meeting with its bilateral power supply agreement partners and appealed to all those affected to exercise patience with the DisCo during the period.
“Even though this is a TCN project, it is our duty to inform our customers of the situation because we are the ones that interface with them on a daily basis.
“We believe it will be for the benefit of our customers at the end of the day and will also allow Ikeja Electric to invest more in our system to improve power supply to customers under our network,” Ofulue said.
