[BREAKING] Nigeria’s Power Grid Suffers Fresh Collapse, Worsening Blackouts

Nigeria’s fragile national electricity grid suffered yet another collapse on Thursday afternoon, compounding the blackouts that have gripped homes and businesses in recent months.

The latest system failure, confirmed in a notice by Ikeja Electric, one of the country’s major power distribution companies serving parts of Lagos and Ogun states, disrupted supply to millions of customers.

“The current outrage is due to system collapse of the national grid. Work is ongoing to ensure power is restored. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused,” the company said in a message to customers.

The collapse comes amid already reduced power supply nationwide, triggered by a mix of factors including gas supply constraints to power plants, aging transmission infrastructure, and chronic underinvestment across the value chain. 

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with more than 200 million people, has an installed generation capacity of over 12,000 megawatts but typically manages to deliver only a fraction of that to the grid. Frequent system collapses — often total “grid blackouts” when frequency or voltage goes out of safe range — have become a recurring feature of the sector, undermining economic growth and investor confidence.

Manufacturers, small businesses, and service providers are especially hard hit, as they face higher operating costs from running diesel or petrol generators. 

As of Thursday evening, grid operators and distribution companies were working to gradually restore power, though many consumers remained in darkness with no clear timeline for full restoration.