The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives Company Limited Bismarck Rewane on Sunday said the national grid collapsed 12 times in 2023.
He announced this on “2023: Year of Transition,” a Channels TV Special finish-Of-Year Programme to commemorate the year’s finish.
“The national grid collapsed 12 times in 2023,” the economist said on Sunday’s episode.
On Monday, December 11, the national grid had its latest technical failure, causing the country to go dark.
The system fell at 1 p.m., according to a spokeswoman for the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). Shortly after, attempts were undertaken to correct the situation.
This is the third time in recent months that the national grid has collapsed. In September 2023, the national grid system collapsed twice.
The grid had collapsed on September 14, 2023, and September 19, 2023, respectively, but were restored in due time.
20% Poorer
Apart from the national grid collapse, Rewane also spoke on the nation’s inflation, and poverty rate among other factors.
“The GDP growth actually declined from 3.25 to 2.45, that was a slight dip of about 0.80 per cent. Per capita income (per head) went down from $2202 to about $1755 which is 20 per cent. So, Nigerians were 20% poorer in 2023,” he added.
On inflation, the economist noted that the nation witnessed an increase in the prices of commodities and foodstuffs.
Noting that inflation at the start of 2023 was 21 per cent, there is a seven per cent increase in the inflation rate.
“Inflation at the beginning of the year was 21.34%, we ended up at 28.2% and we are going to have inflation numbers next week,” he added. “We are projecting it is going to be at 29 per cent.”