Nigeria’s national power grid suffered a complete collapse, resulting in a nationwide blackout just a day after a partial failure. Data from the Nigerian System Operator (niggrid.org) showed that power generation dropped to zero megawatts at 11:30 a.m., impacting all 22 operational power stations.
This recent incident follows a series of grid failures this year, including major blackouts on February 4, August 5, and three in October. The latest outage reflects ongoing challenges faced by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in maintaining grid stability.
In response, Ikeja Electric issued a statement: “Dear Esteemed Customer, please be informed that we experienced a system outage today 07 November 2024 at 11:29Hrs affecting supply within our network. Restoration of supply is ongoing in collaboration with our critical stakeholders. Kindly bear with us.”
Blackouts are a frequent issue in Nigeria, where aging infrastructure, vandalism, and inadequate gas supply strain the power grid. Although the country has capacity to generate around 13,000 megawatts, grid limitations allow for the distribution of only a third, forcing businesses and households to rely heavily on costly fuel generators.