The Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, said on Saturday the latest collapse of the country’s national grid was caused by vandalisation of a transmission tower at Odukpani in Akwa Ibom State.

The power grid collapsed for the third time in less than one month on Friday evening, throwing many parts of the country into total blackout.

The minister stated this in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media, Isa Sanusi, in Abuja.

The statement read: “We wish to inform the general public that the immediate cause of the national blackout (system collapse) was an act of vandalism on a transmission tower on the Odukpani Ikot Ekpene 330kV double circuit transmission line.

“This resulted in the sudden loss of about 400 Megawatts of generation. This consequently led to a cascade of plant shutdowns across the country.”