Nigeria Faces Total Blackout as Power Grid Fails Again

Nigeria’s national electricity grid experienced a total collapse around 6:48 PM yesterday, plunging homes and businesses into darkness as power generation dropped to zero megawatts.

Sources indicate that stakeholders acted quickly, restoring limited supply shortly after, with the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) receiving 30 MW and the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) getting 20 MW.

AEDC, Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), and Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) each confirmed the grid failure in separate statements issued last night.

Emeka Ezeh, Head of Corporate Communications at EKEDC, reported that the collapse caused widespread outages across its service areas, affecting customers in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo states.

He noted that all EEDC interface stations with the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) were without supply, and the company was awaiting updates from the National Control Centre (NCC) in Osogbo regarding the cause of the collapse and restoration efforts.

Similarly, EKEDC acknowledged the grid failure and assured customers that they were collaborating with relevant partners for a swift resolution, promising to provide updates as more information became available.

In a message to customers, AEDC stated, “Please be informed that the power outage is due to a system failure from the national grid at 6:58 PM today, affecting supply in our franchise areas. We are working with stakeholders to restore power as soon as the grid stabilizes. Thank you for your understanding.”

As of this report, TCN had not released an official statement regarding the cause of the collapse. The outage has left millions without electricity, affecting major areas serviced by Eko, Enugu, Ibadan, Ikeja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcourt, and Yola Discos.

However, the grid showed signs of partial recovery, with AEDC and BEDC being the first to receive power, totaling around 50 MW. Data from TCN indicated that by 7 PM, only Ibom Power was operational, generating just 42.7 MW.