Nigeria is currently running the risk of a total collapse of the electricity system.
Our correspondent gathered on Sunday that the national power grid had suffered 30 instances of total system collapse since January 1 to date.
A total system collapse refers to a situation whereby all the power stations are down and there is hardly any power being generated.
Some of the 30 instances lasted for few hours, while others lasted for a whole day.
Our correspondent gathered that between July 1 and 3, Nigeria had three instances of total system collapse.
A source in the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, who confided in our correspondent, explained that the situation was worrisome because there were only 18 instances of system collapse in the first half of 2007.
Speaking on the telephone with our correspondent on Sunday, a senior official of PHCN stated that the hydro dams were at their lowest water levels.
The official, who pleaded for anonymity, regretted that the hydro dams were normally at high levels in July, but were yet to get to an appreciable level at this time of the year.
He said, �The dams should have got to five feet by now. You know that River Niger depends on flows from upper part rivers. Only two units of Shiroro are running and that should not be happening at this time.�
He warned that unless it rained substantially, especially in the North, the hydro dams might not generate meaningfully this year.
On Thursday, PHCN announced that it would from Friday begin zonal power rationing.
Meanwhile, The Shell Petroleum Development company of Nigeria has said it would generate 460 megawatts of electricity, which would be added to the national grid before the end of this year.
SPDC�s Vice-President, Operations, Mr. Muliu Sunmonu, said the offer was made known to the Federal Government on Friday during a meeting with President Umaru Yar�Adua in Abuja.
According to him, the SPDC was the only oil firm in the country that has gone ahead to construct a power plant without waiting for the government to release its counterpart funding for the multi-million dollar project.
When its power projects are completed, he said SPDC would generate about 20 per cent of the country�s power needs as part of its corporate social responsibility initiative.
On debt owed to foreign and local contractors, Sunmonu said payments would be made as soon as the Federal Government signed the final stage of its bridging loan agreement with the company.