The national electricity grid collapsed for the second time in less than 24 hours on Tuesday morning, deepening concerns about the stability of the nation’s power supply.
The first collapse occurred around 6:18 p.m. on Monday, leaving many parts of the country in darkness. Power generation had dropped from 3.87 gigawatts at 5 p.m. to 3.56GW by 6 p.m., eventually falling to 0.00GW between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.
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The second collapse took place at 9:17 a.m. on Tuesday, with power supply plummeting to 0.00MW across all regions by 10 a.m., leading to a nationwide blackout. Various power distribution companies, including the Eko Electricity Distribution Company, confirmed the system failure.
“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,” Eko DisCo stated, assuring customers that updates would be provided once power is restored.
Despite multiple attempts to reach the Transmission Company of Nigeria’s spokesperson, Ndidi Mbah, there was no response regarding the situation.
The grid’s failure affected several distribution companies (DisCos), with limited power allocated to various regions before the collapse. Abuja was allocated 44MW, Eko 62MW, Ikeja 72MW, and Ibadan 85MW, among others.
Princewill Okorie, Executive Director of the Electricity Consumer Protection Advocacy Centre, expressed frustration over the repeated grid failures, especially in light of increased electricity tariffs.
“It’s concerning that despite tariff hikes, the grid keeps collapsing. Unmetered customers will still be charged during the outage, raising questions about the government’s preventive measures,” Okorie said.
