Kano residents celebrate power restoration after prolonged outage
By Agency Report
Celebrations erupted across Kano city and surrounding areas as electricity was restored to Northern Nigeria’s commercial centre following days of outage caused by a national grid collapse.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the country has suffered numerous grid failures in 2024, including notable incidents on Feb. 4, March 28, April 15, July 6, and most recently on Oct. 14 and Oct. 15, the latter occurring just hours after an initial restoration.
Residents expressed relief over the return of power, citing the intense heat and economic toll the outages had taken on businesses dependent on electricity.
Ali Musa, from Nasarawa, shared his relief at the restoration, especially given the daytime heat. “This is a big relief to us as we battle with the high cost of petrol to power our homes and businesses,” he explained.
Amina Shehu, residing in Tarauni, noted she had been purchasing ice blocks at N300 each and hoped prices would now decrease significantly with the restored power. “I spend N1,000 daily to buy an ice block to cool my drinks and another N2,000 to fuel my generator at home. Thank God the power has been restored,” she said.
Simon Isaac, who runs a barbershop in Kumbotso, expressed his satisfaction at returning to normal operations, explaining that relying on a generator was financially unsustainable. Isaac also called on the federal government to consider decentralizing the national grid to ease pressure on the system.
Another resident, Dayyabu Sani from the Farm Centre area, expressed optimism for a lasting resolution to the frequent outages. He urged the government to invest in renewable energy sources and establish mini-grids to address the recurring issue.
NAN