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Blackout continues as power grid collapses for second time in 48 hours

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The blackout around the country continued as electricity grid collapsed again around 5pm on Tuesday, coming barely 48 hours after it collapsed on Monday, a development that caused widespread darkness across the country.

Power distribution companies again alerted their customers about the collapse, as it was gathered that the meeting summoned by the Federal Government on Monday over issues in the sector, had to drag on till late night on Tuesday.

The grid collapse further prolonged the blackouts witnessed across the country, amidst the current energy crisis in the petroleum sector in Nigeria.

In a public announcement to its customers on Tuesday, the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company described the collapse of the grid as total.

It said, “Dear esteemed customers, we regret to inform you of a total system collapse on the national grid at 1709hours of today Tuesday, March 15, 2022 leading to outages across our network.

“We are closely monitoring the situation with our TCN (Transmission Company of Nigeria) partners and will keep you updated on the situation. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience.”

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Also, the Head, Corporate Communications, Ikeja Electric Plc, Mr Felix Ofulue, confirmed the development to the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.

Eko Electricity Distribution Company also confirmed the partial collapse of the grid in a public notice.

Power distributors said the collapse had disrupted power supply within their networks as customers were experiencing blackouts nationwide.

In a notice to power users in its franchise area, Eko Disco said, “Dear esteemed customers, we would like to inform you of another system collapse on the national grid which occurred at 5:10pm today (Tuesday).

“We are monitoring the situation and will continue to provide updates. Once again we apologise for the inconvenience.”

Industry sources stated that at the time of second on Tuesday, no power generation company was supplying electricity on the grid.

They stated that latest grid collapse was multiple, especially from the gas-fired power plants, adding efforts were made to supply electricity to the Federal Capital Territory using the hydro-power plants in Niger State.

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Also, sources at the ministry blamed the activities of vandals for the loss in power generation, stressing that some gas pipelines had been ruptured and that this had also prevented the flow of gas to thermal power plants.

On the meeting summoned on Monday by the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, it was gathered that it went on till past midnight on Monday and continued till past 10pm on Tuesday.

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UPDATED: Tinubu appoints Jim Ovia as chairman of education loan fund

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President Bola Tinubu has appointed Jim Ovia as the chairman of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).

 

Ajuri Ngelale, presidential spokesperson, announced the appointment of Ovia, chairman of Zenith Bank, in a statement on Friday.

 

Ngelale said Tinubu believes that Ovia will bring his immense wealth of experience to ensure that no Nigerian student suffers a paucity of funds in the quest for tertiary education.

 

On April 3, Tinubu signed the student loans amendment bill into law to provide Nigerians with quality and accessible education.

 

The law will allow Nigerian students in tertiary institutions to access low-interest loans for tuition and other academic needs.

 

Subsequently, the president appointed Akintunde Sawyerr as the managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of the fund.

 

Tinubu also appointed Frederick Oluwafemi Akinfala as the executive director of finance and administration, while Mustapha Iyal will serve as the executive director of operations of NELFUND.

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JUST IN: Tinubu appoints Jim Ovia as chairman of education loan fund

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President Bola Tinubu has appointed Jim Ovia as the chairman of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).

 

Ajuri Ngelale, presidential spokesperson, announced the appointment of Ovia, chairman of Zenith Bank, in a statement on Friday.

More to follow…

 

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ICPC detains TETFund boss ‘over questionable N7.6bn project’

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The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has detained Sonny Echono, executive secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

Demola Bakare, ICPC spokesperson, confirmed the development on Friday.

 

Bakare said that Echono was invited by the anti-graft agency on Thursday.

“The executive secretary of TETFund is here with us. He has been invited for questioning. He is still in custody. He was invited yesterday.” Bakare said.

 

“He was invited on Thursday. He has not been released. He’s still with us. Investigation is still ongoing.”

 

It was earlier reported that TETfund awarded two contracts to Fides Et Ratio Academy and Pole Global Marketing (PGM) within two months at the cost of N3.8 billion respectively without the approval of the federal executive council (FEC), which is required for the contract size.

 

The contract was to provide capacity building course and learning management systems to about 2 million students across higher institutions in the country.

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In a rejoinder, TETFund said it did not award N7.6 billion contracts to two companies without due process.

 

The agency said it was wrong to say they were contracts, whereas they were ICT projects implemented under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which doesn’t require competitive bidding in public procurement.

 

TETFund further said its disbursement guidelines were approved by the president on the recommendation of the “Fund’s Board of Trustees and concurrence of the Honourable Minister of Education in line with the TETFund Act 2011″.

In an interview with TheCable, Echono said there was no form of irregularity in the N7.6 billion project.

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