The national power grid on Tuesday suffered another system collapse, throwing several parts of the country into darkness just four days after the first major outage recorded in 2026.
Operational data from the Nigerian Independent System Operator’s (NIGGRID) grid performance dashboard showed that electricity generation dropped sharply to about 39 megawatts (MW) as of 11:00 a.m., with power supply coming from only one generating company at the time of the disturbance. Most other power plants listed on the dashboard recorded zero output.
Further confirmation of the collapse came from distribution load allocation records, which indicated that power supply to electricity distribution companies (DisCos) nationwide fell to 0.00MW, signalling a widespread system failure.
The latest incident follows the first national grid collapse of the year, which occurred on Friday, January 23, 2026, when real-time data showed generation falling to zero megawatts, leaving large parts of the country without electricity before gradual restoration began.
Reacting to Tuesday’s outage, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) attributed the blackout to a system disturbance on the national grid. In a notice to customers, the company said the collapse occurred at about 10:48 a.m., resulting in a total loss of power supply across its network.
“Kindly be informed that there was a system collapse at 10:48 hrs, which has resulted in a loss of power supply across our network,” the DisCo said.
EKEDC added that it was working with the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to restore supply, assuring customers that updates would be provided as recovery efforts progress.
The repeated grid collapse within a short period has renewed concerns over the stability and resilience of Nigeria’s electricity infrastructure, amid persistent challenges in generation, transmission and distribution.
As of press time, the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) had not issued an official statement explaining the cause of the latest collapse.