Blackouts explained: Power Minister Tegbe blames Egbin maintenance, gas shortages and vandalism, promises relief in 72 hours

The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, has explained the recent wave of blackouts across Nigeria and says supply should start to improve within days.

In a statement posted on Friday, Tegbe said planned maintenance at the Egbin Power Station in Lagos, the country's largest, and gas supply problems at some thermal plants had cut the amount of electricity on the national grid. Grid operators had to ration supply in some areas to cope with the shortfall.

He also blamed vandalism of key transmission lines, which limited the routes available to send power to Lagos, and said high temperatures at the end of the rainy season had added to the strain.

Four states are affected, including Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory. The minister said the affected generating units would come back in stages, with the first expected to return within 48 to 72 hours, while work continues to improve gas supply and repair damaged equipment.

His explanation comes after days of public complaints, including from Nollywood actress Kate Henshaw, as PauseandPonderTV reported this morning. The Transmission Company of Nigeria has separately disputed Ikeja Electric's explanation for outages affecting customers on its premium Band A feeders.