Too much cho cho cho
The National Grid is allegedly about to receive permanent healing
Happy Friday, Big Brains. Yesterday, I satisfied my food craving and sighed because there’s no room for satisfying cravings in Tinubu’s economy. That made me reminisce over how much my life has changed since this man took office. If your Nigerian reality has gone from mid to worse in the last two years and you’re happy to share your story anonymously with us, please fill out this form, and we’ll reach out to you.
- Margaret
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Reading time ~ 5 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition:
The National Grid is allegedly about to receive permanent healing
The Nigerian Senate is officially Akpabio’s fan club
The Big Deal
The National Grid is allegedly about to receive permanent healing
The forces that connived to restrict the standing abilities of our national grid have finally lost their powers. Or at least that’s what the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) wants Nigerians to believe: we’re just messengers.
To finally put us all out of our national misery, NERC has now inaugurated the Grid Code Review Panel (GCRP). It sounds like a superhero squad from Temu, but its mission is actually to perform a much-needed technical facelift on the national grid so that it stops embarrassing us every other month. The panel’s job is updating the grid code—basically, the rulebook determining how power moves from generation to distribution. If they get it right, we might finally see a power sector that isn’t constantly on life support.
Speaking at the panel’s inauguration ceremony, NERC Chairman Sanusi Garba made it clear that expectations are sky-high. He told the panel members that their work is a “national assignment,” meaning they must be on their A-game. After all, the last panel was set up in 2018, and let’s be honest, the electricity situation since then hasn’t exactly been inspiring.
Why is this a big deal?
The Nigerian electricity grid has one job—to distribute power efficiently—but it has spent the past few years collapsing at the slightest provocation. Its worst years have coincidentally aligned with the current administration's time in power. In 2024 alone, it collapsed 12 times and lost 128 transmission towers to vandalism.
By updating the grid code, the newly inaugurated panel has the chance to fix outdated technical rules, prevent unnecessary shutdowns, and ensure that power flows more reliably across the country. It’s not an instant fix, but if they do it right, we may finally have a grid that doesn’t collapse all the time.
But we’ll be wicked if we don’t remind you to keep your expectations down to zero. If you caught the part where we mentioned that the previous panel was set up in 2018, you should know that these people are not newcomers at all.
The NERC Commissioner for Engineering Performance and Monitoring, Chidi Ike, claims that a lot has changed since 2018, and the newly set-up panel is the blood tonic our weak national grid needs. But when they asked him for evidence of his claim, all he gave was the professional version of “Believe me, bro.” Not to project our trust issues on you, but believe a federal government official with no evidence at your own risk.
All we have now is just talks. We’ll let you know how it goes in the next 6 months.
The Nigerian Senate is officially Akpabio’s fan club
It’s been over forty-eight hours since Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan presented her case before the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in New York, stating she was suspended for calling out Senate President Godswill Akpabio over sexual harassment. The Nigerian Senate has responded—not with an investigation or findings that vindicate Akpabio, but with a loud and clear “In the Senate, we’re all Akapbio’s fam.”
In a dramatic show of support, the Senate passed a vote of confidence on Akpabio during plenary held on Thursday, March 13. Basically, they gathered, clapped, and assured Nigerians that their leader was innocent of Akpoti-Uduaghan’s claims. They also urged Nigerians to “stop distracting them” with the Kogi Senator’s allegations, insisting that the matter is already in court. And according to Senate rules (Order 40, to be precise), they can't touch it if it’s in court.
Senate Leader Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, who moved the motion, wasted no time dismissing Akpoti-Uduaghan’s claims. He pointed out that since her inauguration in August 2023, she had never once raised the issue of sexual harassment with any senator, only bringing it up now after her suspension. Deputy Minority Leader Olalere Oyewumi backed him up, and just like that, the Senate rallied around Akpabio.
For those keeping scores, this seems like another attempt to give Akpabio another unfair advantage in this case (as if his preceding over a case directly concerning him wasn’t crazy enough) and completely rid Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan of hers.
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This Week’s Big Question
”Are you still team “stay in Nigeria” or team japa?”
Godsgift response - “At this point, I am team anything. Whatever I say now might be used against me in the court of life.”
You can also share your response here, and if it’s as interesting as Godsgift, we’ll feature it in the next edition.
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