An energy expert, Sam Caulcrick, has attributed Nigeria’s persistent national grid collapses to the lack of comprehensive real-time monitoring and control of the transmission network.
Caulcrick, in an interview with The Guardian, described the problem as a major failure of system management.

Caulcrick, who is an author of ‘Power in Nigeria: Will There Ever Be Light?’, said repeated grid failures were largely the result of the Transmission Company of Nigeria’s (TCN) inability to properly monitor and balance electricity supply and demand in real time.
According to him, the absence of fully deployed supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems across the country’s 330kV and 132kV transmission lines has left the National Control Centre (NCC) wobbling, thereby increasing the risk of system failures.
“Compounding the problem is the lack of comprehensive monitoring. The SCADA system, crucial for real-time oversight of 330kV and 132kV lines, remains under-implemented. Without it, the National Control Centre struggles to balance supply and demand effectively, increasing vulnerability.

“The result is a cascading collapse where one failure triggers another—lines trip, generators shut down and the entire grid grinds to a halt,” he said.
He explained that electricity grids are highly sensitive systems where supply must constantly and instantaneously match demand.
Any sudden imbalance, such as increased consumer load during peak hours, according to Caulcrick, could cause the system frequency to fall outside the safe operating range of 49.75Hz to 50.25Hz.

He regretted that when frequency dropped without rapid control measures in place, generators tripped and transmission lines disconnected, while the disturbance quickly snowballed into a nationwide blackout.
Caulcrick stressed that a functional monitoring system would allow operators to respond immediately through controlled load shedding or coordinated adjustments with power generation companies, preventing a total system shutdown.
According to him, Nigeria’s grid was frequently operated without sufficient spinning reserves, leaving it vulnerable to even minor disturbances.

“In advanced power systems, grid inertia and automatic generation control work together to stabilise frequency within seconds. In Nigeria, weak automation and poor coordination mean these safeguards often fail,” he said.
While acknowledging challenges such as vandalism, ageing infrastructure and funding constraints, Caulcrick said these factors only worsen a problem rooted in inadequate grid oversight.
On accountability, he insisted that responsibility for system collapse rests squarely with TCN, describing this as the core mandate of the transmission operator.

He noted that this involved continuous monitoring, close coordination with generators and timely load management.
Caulcrick warned that unless comprehensive monitoring systems were fully implemented and grid operations professionally managed, system collapses would continue to undermine Nigeria’s economic growth and energy security.