Joseph Bakare
Nigeria’s national grid suffered another collapse on Monday after real-time grid data showed power generation plunging to 231.50 megawatts (MW), triggering widespread blackouts and leaving most electricity distribution companies (DisCos) without supply.
Data from the National Grid Performance Dashboard (NGPD) indicated that as of 5.00p.m., total generation on the national grid dropped to one of its lowest ever recorded, with only three generation companies (GenCos) supplying electricity nationwide.
Shortly after, spokeman of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) Babatunde Lasaki, confirmed restoration in parts of its network.
Generally, the situation improved at about 10 pm and generation reached 1,924.49MW.
The recovery was driven largely by output from key hydro and gas-fired power plants. Kainji hydro power station led generation with 519MW, followed by Jebba hydro at 242MW, Olorunsogo NIPP at 109.20MW, Paras Energy at 108.20MW, Delta Power Plant at 128MW, Omotosho gas plant at 121MW, and Okpai gas/steam plant at 226MW.
More than 30 grid-connected power plants, including critical stations such as Egbin, Geregu, Omotosho, Olorunsogo, Afam, Ihovbor, Sapele, Jebba, Kainji and Zungeru, were either completely offline or producing zero output. Only Delta power station, which generated 149MW, Okpai with 70MW and Omoku Gas Plant, with 12.50MW were operational at the time.
The collapse in generation cascaded across, slashing electricity supply to DisCos. Data from the national grid’s Distribution Load Profile (DLP) showed that total load allocation stood at just 305MW by 17:16 p.m., an amount grossly inadequate to serve even a single major city.
Only six DisCos, viz Ibadan, Abuja, Benin, Eko, Enugu and Ikeja, received power allocations of 105MW, 40MW, 20MW, 45MW, 30MW and 65MW, respectively, while major DisCos recorded zero allocation, effectively cutting off millions of customers from the national grid.
Power sector analysts described the incident as a systemic failure, stressing that a national grid serving over 200 million people should not be operating at output levels comparable to a small independent power plant.
The latest collapse comes amid persistent gas supply constraints, mounting debts to GenCos, liquidity shortfalls and weak transmission resilience. Thermal power plants, which account for nearly 80 per cent of Nigeria’s installed capacity, continue to struggle with inadequate gas supply and unpaid invoices, while hydro stations face operational and water management challenges.
Despite having over 13,000MW of installed generation capacity, Nigeria’s actual available power has remained far below demand, with grid disturbances and collapses increasingly becoming routine.
The outage followed weeks of constrained electricity supply, including during the Christmas period, when average generation hovered around 3,000MW, far below national requirements. As previously reported by The Guardian, widespread outages had already affected Lagos, Abuja and other major cities, even before yesterday’s collapse.
Eko DisCo, however, confirmed the collapse in a notice to its customers on the restoration.
“Kindly be informed there was a system collapse at 14:01hrs, which resulted in a loss of power supply across our network. We are working with our partners as we hope for the speedy restoration of the grid. We will keep you updated as soon as the power supply is restored,” it stated.
For consumers, the collapse deepened frustration, coming amid rising electricity tariffs and expectations of improved service, particularly for customers migrated to higher tariff bands.
The latest collapse, occurring at a time of already depressed generation, underscores the precarious state of Nigeria’s electricity system and raises fresh questions about how soon promised stability can realistically be achieved.
Energy experts say the repeated collapse of the national grid is also linked to the steady exit of large industrial consumers often described as anchor tenants from the national electricity network, warning that grid stability will remain elusive unless they are reintegrated.