Nigeria was plunged into a nationwide blackout on Sunday after the national grid suffered a complete collapse, dropping to zero megawatts. This marks the first major grid failure of 2024, following three consecutive collapses in 2023.
Power distribution companies (DisCos) across the country took to social media to confirm the outage, attributing it to the collapse of the national grid managed by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). The current extent and duration of the blackout remain unclear.
This latest incident is likely to reignite concerns about the stability and reliability of Nigeria’s power infrastructure. Nigerians have long grappled with inconsistent electricity supply, and repeated grid failures disrupt businesses, homes, and critical services.
As the situation unfolds, Nigerians await further information from TCN regarding the cause of the collapse and the estimated time for restoration of power supply.
In separate statements posted on social media, power distribution companies (DisCos) blamed the blackout currently experienced nationwide on the collapse of the grid, managed by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
Data from TCN’s generation trend said the grid collapsed at about 11am on Sunday, leading to a drop in the system’s capacity from 2,407 megawatts (MW) to just 31MW by mid-day, and to zero by 1pm.
The DisCos, in the statements on Sunday, asked customers to stay calm while the grid is being repaired.
“The management of Abuja Electricity Distribution Plc (AEDC) wishes to inform its valued customers that the power outage being experienced is as 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,” AEDC said in a statement.
“Be rest assured that we are working with the relevant stakeholders to restore power as soon as the grid is stabilized.”
On his part, Abdulazeez Abdullahi, the head of corporate communication of the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Plc (KAEDCO), said the company lost “bulk power supply”, noting that the outage is being experienced in Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi states.
The distribution firm, therefore, said the power supply will be restored as soon as “we receive the same at load centres across our franchise.”
