Nigerians were plunged into darkness on Wednesday after the national grid suffered a system disturbance that cut electricity supply across the country, leaving Distribution Companies (DisCos) with less than 200 megawatts (MW) to share among customers.
Data from the Nigerian System Operator (niggrid.org) showed that available load on the distribution network dropped to just 120MW at 1:00 p.m., far below the country’s demand of over 4,000MW.
Outages Across Major Cities
Consumers in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, Enugu and other urban centres reported widespread blackouts, with some areas left without supply for more than two hours. Businesses and households were forced to resort to generators and alternative power sources.
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) confirmed the incident in a notice on X (formerly Twitter), saying:
“Please be informed that the power outage currently being experienced is due to a loss of supply from the national grid at 11:23hrs today, affecting electricity supply across our franchise areas. Rest assured, we are working closely with the relevant stakeholders to ensure power is restored once the grid is stabilised.”
Similarly, the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED), in a notice to customers, said there was no supply across its four franchise states, Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Cross River, due to total loss of feed from all its transmission stations. The company appealed for patience, assuring that power would be restored as soon as possible.
NISO Explains Cause
In a separate press release, the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) disclosed that the grid collapse occurred at 11:20 a.m. following the tripping of a generating unit, which triggered a cascade effect across other power plants.
The system operator said partial restoration began at 11:45 a.m., starting with supply to Abuja from the Shiroro power station. Substantial progress has since been made, but full supply restoration is still ongoing.
“A full investigation into the immediate and remote causes is underway. The outcome of the investigation will determine remedial and proactive actions to prevent future occurrences,” NISO said.
Frequent Grid Failures
Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, has an installed generation capacity of over 12,000MW, but less than 5,000MW typically reaches consumers due to gas constraints, transmission bottlenecks, and ageing infrastructure. The national grid has collapsed multiple times in recent years, leaving millions of Nigerians without electricity.
Wednesday’s outage highlights the fragility of the country’s power supply system, which continues to pose challenges to businesses, industry and households already grappling with high energy costs.
