Kainji dam, which is across River Niger in Niger State, was opened in 1968. It was designed to have a generating capacity of 960 megawatts (1,290,000 hp); however, only 8 of its 12 turbines have been installed, reducing the capacity to 760 megawatts (1,020,000 hp). The dam generates electricity for all the large cities in Nigeria, while some of the electricity generated is sold to the neighbouring Niger Republic.
The collapse of the embankment of the dam followed the opening of the four spillway gates of the facility to throw out surplus water as a result of heavy rains. It has been learnt that the incident occurred on Sunday after the management of the dam, Mainstream Energy Solution Limited, decided to open the spillway gates when it was discovered that the dam was impounding more water than it could impound.
However, managers of Nigeria Hydroelectricity Power Station Managers debunked the rumour. Also Water Resources Nigeria tagged any information as to the exploision of Kainji Dam fake.
Meanwhile, technicians of the Mainstream Energy Solution Limited are said to have inspected the damage with a view to carrying out repairs.
See tweet and image below:
EXPLOSION IN KAINJI DAM: #FakeNews
The general public, especially the print and electronic media, should disregard the online Fake News claiming that there was an explosion in Kanji Dam. I can authoritatively confirm that Kainji Dam is safe, no explosion whatsoever in the Dam. pic.twitter.com/xn43R3y5LH— Water Resources Nigeria (@FMWR_NGR) September 14, 2020
