Nigeria records another nationwide blackout as grid collapses

Nigeria records another nationwide blackout as grid collapses

Nigeria was again plunged into total darkness for hours on Sunday after national grid collapsed for the second time in less than one month.

Many homes and businesses were left without power supply, extending to Monday morning.
This came about a week after the controversial review of Band A power consumers increasing electricity tariff from N68 to N225/kw.
Data supplied by the National System Operator, a semi-autonomous unit in the Transmission Company of Nigeria showed that the grid collapsed around 3am.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria battled to restore the grid as supply later rose to 250MW, with Abuja and Lagos Disco having the highest load of 80MW, Ibadan Disco with 50MW, and Benin Disco with 40MW.

Nigeria generates an average of 4,000MW of electricity for estimated 200 million citizens across the country.

The grid continues to record incessant collapses due to gas supply constraints, transmission infrastructure vandalism, and liquidity crises, among others.

Latest data from the Independent System Operator, an arm of the TCN, showed that only one electricity generation company, Ibom Power, was active as of Monday morning.

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The national grid collapse was confirmed by the Jos Electricity Distribution Company.

The Head, Corporate Affairs, JEDC, Dr Friday Elijah, said in a notice to customers, “The current outage being experienced within our franchise states is a result of a loss of power supply from the national grid.

“The loss of power supply from the national grid occurred in the early hours at about 0242hours of today, Monday, April 15, 2024, hence the loss of power supply on all our feeders.”

Elijah, however, expressed hope that the grid would be restored for normal power supply to electricity consumers.

On February 5, 2024, power generation on the national grid crashed to 59.9 MW around 12 p.m. on February 4, 2024, as the country’s grid witnessed a nationwide collapse.

The report stated that data obtained from the Federal Ministry of Power showed that electricity generation on the grid plunged from 2,658.75 MW at 11 a.m. to 59.9 MW by noon on February 4, 2024, as power distributors lost supply from the grid.

This led to widespread blackouts across the country, as power distribution companies blamed it on the collapse of the grid managed by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, an agency of the Federal Government.

National grid collapses again as Nigerians suffer blackout