Nigeria faces double electricity grid collapse in 24 hours

The national electricity grid in Nigeria experienced a severe collapse twice within a 24-hour period, plunging the nation into darkness and raising serious concerns about the stability of its electricity supply.

The first collapse occurred on Monday evening around 6:18 p.m., with power generation plummeting from 3.87 gigawatts (GW) at 5 p.m. to 0.00 GW by 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Various power distribution companies confirmed the drop in supply.

The crisis continued on Tuesday morning when the grid collapsed again at 9:17 a.m., leading to an abrupt reduction in power supply to 0.00 MW across all regions by 10 a.m.

The Eko Electricity Distribution Company confirmed the recent system failure, which highlights ongoing issues within Nigeria’s power sector and the need for urgent reforms to ensure a reliable electricity supply.

“Dear Valued Customer, kindly be informed that there was a system collapse at 09:17hrs, which has resulted in a loss of power supply across our network.

“We are currently working with our partners and hope for a speedy restoration of the grid. We will keep you updated as soon as the power supply is restored,” the company stated.

The spokesperson for the Transmission Company of Nigeria, Ndidi Mbah, did not respond to messages and calls from our correspondent.

Power supply was distributed across several distribution companies (DisCos), with Abuja allocated 44MW, Benin 35MW, Eko 62MW, Enugu 40MW, Ibadan 85MW, Ikeja 72MW, Jos 10MW, Kaduna 15MW, Kano 20MW, Port Harcourt 23MW, and Yola 11MW.

Speaking to our correspondent about the repeated collapses, the Executive Director of the Electricity Consumer Protection Advocacy Centre, Princewill Okorie, expressed regret that the grid continues to collapse despite the increase in electricity tariffs.

Okorie lamented that unmetered customers would still be charged for the period of the collapse, questioning what the government is doing to prevent such incidents.