National grid collapses again

Nigeria’s national power grid suffered another collapse, leaving much of the country without electricity on Saturday. This marks the eighth grid failure this year, with multiple outages recorded in October alone despite government promises to implement a lasting solution.

At 2:35 pm, reports indicated zero power generation across all facilities, as the latest failure brought operations to a halt nationwide. On October 19, the grid experienced a major breakdown, with another occurring just two days later, attributed to a fire outbreak at the Jebba transmission station, according to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s General Manager of Public Affairs, noted a historical decrease in grid disturbances, stating that while there were 85 incidents from 2015 to 2019, only 20 have occurred since 2020—a 76.47% reduction. Nonetheless, issues persist, with 105 grid collapses recorded in total.

Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu attributed the recurring blackouts to outdated infrastructure, and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) warned that frequent outages are reversing recent improvements made toward stabilizing the grid and addressing infrastructure deficits.