National Grid Collapse Plunges Nigeria Into Darkness
Nigeria’s already fragile power sector faced another severe setback on Wednesday as the national electricity grid collapsed, leaving large parts of the country without power.
The grid, notorious for frequent failures, plunged from 4,500 megawatts (MW) to just 120MW.
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) confirmed the outage in a public notice, attributing it to a total loss of supply from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) at 11:23 a.m.
“Please be informed that the power outage currently being experienced is due to a loss of supply from the national grid, affecting electricity supply across our franchise areas,” AEDC stated.
The utility added that efforts were ongoing with relevant stakeholders to restore power once the grid stabilises.
Real-time data from the National System Operator (NSO) at 1:10 p.m. indicated that only 120MW remained on the grid — a tiny fraction of Nigeria’s installed capacity of over 12,000MW and far below the usual 4,000–5,000MW supplied on a normal day.
This limited power was distributed among just four distribution companies (DisCos): Ibadan Disco received 50MW, Enugu Disco 40MW, Abuja Disco 20MW, and Benin Disco 10MW. The other seven DisCos, including Ikeja, Eko, Kano, Kaduna, Jos, Port Harcourt, and Yola, received no allocation, leaving their franchise areas completely without electricity.
The latest collapse adds to the long list of grid failures that continue to challenge Africa’s largest economy.
Titilope Adako is a talented and intrepid journalist, dedicated to shedding light on the untold stories of Osun State and Nigeria. Through incisive reporting, she tackles a broad spectrum of topics, from politics and social justice to culture and entertainment, with a commitment to accuracy, empathy, and inspiring positive change.
