Blackout looms as 760 Megawatts Kainji Hydro Power Station is shut.

Blackout looms across the nation as the Minister of Power, Professor Bart Nnaji, Friday confirmed that the 760 Megawatts Kainji Hydro Power Station in Niger State has been shut.

He said the shutdown Friday morning followed excessive water leakage in the Kainji dam "which could cause a flooding of the station."

"To forestall the flooding, all five units in the power station generating 330MW were shut down early this morning," said the minister in a press statement signed by his media aide, Ogbuagu Anikwe.

Anikwe said Nnaji has ordered all divers in the service of the station to be mobilised immediately to trace the point of the water leakage in the dam and rectify the problem as a matter of utmost urgency.

He said if the water leakage was not solved immediately, it could affect the operations of the four units of the Jebba Hydro Station which currently generate 335mw of electricity into the national grid.

Built in 1968 with an installed capacity for 760MW, the Kainji Hydro Power Plant has in recent years been generating not more than 450MW due to poor maintenance.

In fact, it has not been overhauled since its establishment.

Apologising to Nigerians for the power outage arising out of the shutdown, the minister said it was regrettable that it occurred when there was a considerable reduction in national power supply as a result of shortage in gas supply to thermal power stations.

Professor Nnaji also disclosed that President Goodluck Jonathan was personally leading a new effort to draw up a far reaching and composite plan to end all the impediments to the quick realisation of electricity development in Nigeria, including gas shortages.

The shut down of Kainji Hydro Power Station is coming on the heels of a recent loss of 625MW power supply from shortfalls in gas supply to leading thermal power plants in the country.

The gas supply shortfall led to a drop in daily electricity generation from 4400MW to 3775MW; the loss of 330MW from Kainji will mean that the country is now left with about 3445MW daily.

Egbin, Olorunsogo Phase 2, Sapele, Geregu, Omotosho and Ughelli power plants were affected by disruptions in gas supply to the Escravos- Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS) which provides natural gas to key thermal power stations in the country.

The decline by over 180 million standard cubic feet (mscf) in the last few days led to a considerable loss of electricity generation.