National Grid Collapse: Nigeria Faces Another Widespread Blackout

Nigeria has once again been thrown into darkness following another collapse of the national electricity grid on Wednesday, December 11, 2024. This marks the 12th grid failure this year, exacerbating the long-standing issues within the nation’s power sector.

The national grid’s official account on X (formerly Twitter) confirmed the incident, reporting that the collapse occurred at approximately 2:06 PM. “The major grid setback has occurred, and the restoration is to commence,” the post read.

As of 2:00 PM, the Independent System Operator (ISO), a subsidiary of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), reported that no power generation plants connected to the grid were operational. This resulted in nationwide blackouts, with electricity distribution companies across Nigeria’s 36 states experiencing inactive feeders.

Jos Electricity Distribution Company (Jos Disco) also confirmed the situation, stating, “The current outage being experienced across our franchise states is due to the loss of power supply from the national grid at about 1:33 PM on Wednesday.”

This collapse highlights the ongoing challenges faced by Nigeria’s electricity sector, which continues to struggle despite privatisation efforts intended to improve its reliability and efficiency.