Nigeria’s national electricity grid suffered another collapse on Monday, plunging most parts of the country into darkness and exacerbating power woes during the Christmas season.
National-power-grid
Data from the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) showed a drastic plunge in power generation from 2,052.37 megawatts at 2:00 p.m. to just 139.92MW by 3:00 p.m., signalling a major system disturbance.
Out of 11 electricity distribution companies (DisCos), only three received minimal allocations totalling 120MW, while others recorded zero supply.
Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) loaded 80MW, Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) received 20MW, and Benin Electricity Distribution Company got 20MW.
Benin, Eko, Enugu, Ikeja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcourt and Yola DisCos had no allocation, leading to widespread blackouts.
AEDC and Eko DisCo confirmed the disturbance hit at about 2:02 p.m., causing total loss of supply across their networks.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has yet to issue an official statement on the cause, though officials attributed it to generation shortfalls and transmission faults, with partial restoration underway in some areas like Lagos.
This incident marks yet another grid collapse in 2025, following earlier outages linked to gas shortages, vandalism and infrastructure weaknesses.
Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu had earlier warned of persistent collapses due to insecurity and old grid systems but assured faster restorations and investments like N36 billion for transformers.
Nigerians urge swift action to stabilise the sector amid ongoing disruptions.
