Nigeria was plunged into widespread darkness on Thursday after the national power grid collapsed, forcing electricity generation to drop to a historic low of 24 megawatts.
Checks revealed that power output crashed from over 4,500MW to just 24MW by about 1:30 pm, triggering a nationwide blackout that affected homes, offices, and businesses across the country.
Industry sources confirmed that all 23 power generation plants connected to the national grid lost supply during the incident, leaving the 11 electricity distribution companies without power allocation.
As of the time of filing this report, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) had yet to issue a detailed explanation on the cause of the collapse, although officials said efforts were ongoing to restore supply.
This incident marks the first grid collapse of 2026, coming barely weeks after a similar system failure recorded on December 29, 2025, which also led to widespread outages nationwide.
In recent years, repeated grid failures have been linked to technical faults, weak transmission infrastructure, inadequate maintenance, and sudden fluctuations in power generation. Stakeholders have warned that without urgent upgrades and contingency systems, such incidents may continue to disrupt the economy.
Energy experts say the latest collapse has once again exposed the fragility of Nigeria’s electricity network, raising concerns about its capacity to support industrial growth and meet rising energy demand.
While Nigerians await an official statement from power authorities, the recurring outages have renewed calls for structural reforms, improved grid management, and sustained investment in the power sector.
