Nigeria plunged into darkness as National Grid suffers first collapse in 2026

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

Nigeria’s national electricity grid collapsed on Friday, marking the country’s first nationwide blackout of the year and leaving millions without power during peak evening hours.

Real-time updates from the official Nigeria National Grid account (@NationalGridNg) showed a rapid decline in power distribution to the nation’s 11 electricity distribution companies (DisCos).

By early afternoon, load allocation had dropped sharply, with most regions receiving zero megawatts, confirming a total system failure.

Restoration efforts commenced almost immediately, though progress was gradual and uneven. At around 3:20 p.m., only Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company recorded 10 MW, while all others remained at zero.

By 4:07 p.m., IbadanDisCo had increased to 30 MW and AbujaDisCo to 10 MW, with others still offline. The latest update at 5:15 p.m. showed slight improvement: IbadanDisCo at 30 MW, EkoDisCo at 40 MW, and AbujaDisCo at 10 MW, but Benin, Enugu, Ikeja, Jos, and Kaduna distribution companies continued to report zero allocation.

The collapse disrupted economic activity, healthcare services, telecommunications, and daily life across major cities including Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, and Enugu.

Businesses reliant on generators faced rising fuel costs, while households endured prolonged darkness as evening approached.

Neither the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) nor the Ministry of Power has issued an official statement on the cause as of late Friday.

Industry observers suggest possible triggers include technical faults on transmission lines, frequency imbalances, gas supply constraints to thermal plants, or overloading due to unmet demand.

This incident follows a similar collapse in late December 2025 and underscores ongoing fragility in Nigeria’s power infrastructure despite repeated assurances of improvement.

Just a day prior, on January 22, Minister of Power Chief Adebayo Adelabu inspected the arrival of 1.4 million smart meters in Lagos, part of efforts to enhance metering accuracy and reduce commercial losses.