Nigeria's National Grid Collapses, Plunging Major Cities into Darkness

Nigeria’s electricity grid on Sunday collapsed yet again, throwing several cities including the nation’s capital Abuja, into darkness.

The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) announced Sunday that the collapse occurred at around 11 a.m.

“The Management of Abuja Electricity Distribution Plc (AEDC) wishes to inform its valued customers that the power outage being experienced is a result of a system failure from the national grid at 11:21 hours today, 4th February 2024 which has led to a nationwide power outage,” the company said.

“Be rest assured that we are working with the relevant stakeholders to restore power as soon as the grid is stabilized. We appeal for your patience,” it said.

The latest collapse occurred less than two months after the national grid system collapsed in December and Nigerians were thrown into darkness.

In recent years, Nigeria’s power sector has experienced broad challenges such as electricity policy enforcement, regulatory uncertainty, gas supply, transmission system constraints, and major power sector planning shortfalls.

Last Friday, the Nigerian government attributed the main cause of poor power supply in the country to the low supply of gas to generating companies (GenCos).

Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, who disclosed this in a statement, said “Power supply during the yuletide improved, but unfortunately, we’ve experienced setbacks in the new year. After investigations, it’s clear that the main cause of poor power supply is the low supply of gas to GenCos.”

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) had in January said that there was a gradual decrease in available generation into the grid due to gas constraints.

The company said this impacted the quantum of bulk power available on the transmission grid for onward transmission to the distribution load centres nationwide.

The TCN has yet to officially speak on the issue as of press time Sunday afternoon. When contacted Sunday evening, an official told PREMIUM TIMES that the agency would soon speak on the new development.