By FRED EZEH, Abuja

Official activities in parts of the Federal Secretariat, Abuja, was crippled on Monday due to a power outage that lasted for the better part of the day.

The block housing the Federal Ministry of Education and other agencies of the Federal Government was the most affected. Failure of the standby generators worsened the matter as ministers and other senior government officials were forced to reschedule several meetings that ought to hold Monday.

At the Federal Ministry of Education, activities that were scheduled to conclude the week-long activities to mark the 2020 Commonwealth Day celebration were shifted to another venue after several hours of attempts to power the event centre using standby generators failed.

No one was able to give accurate information on what led to the failure of the standby generators. But a staff of the Ministry, who pleaded anonymity, informed our correspondent that the generators are already weak and couldn’t power equipments in the offices.

However, because of the intense heat, workers abandoned their offices and were seen hanging out in clusters discussing.

Meanwhile, top government officials, lawmakers, international partners, journalists and other guests for the Commonwealth Day event were politely asked to move to the auditorium of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) for the continuation of the programme.

Power supply in the past few weeks has been unstable across Nigeria, particularly in Abuja, the capital, where offices and homes are forced to rely on standby generators. (Daily Sun)