Twelfth grid collapse dims festive mood

The festive mood in Nigeria was significantly dampened on Wednesday as the national power grid collapsed for the twelfth time this year.

The electricity grid, centrally managed from Osogbo, Osun State, suffered a collapse at approximately 1:32 pm on Wednesday leaving millions of homes and businesses without power.

This development, which marks the 12th grid collapse in 2024, adds to challenges that have long plagued Nigeria’s power sector.

Analysis of the Independent System Operator (ISO) website, a division of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), revealed that as of 2:00 pm, revealed that none of the power generation plants connected to the national grid were producing electricity.

According to reports from various distribution companies spanning the nation’s 36 states, their feeders were rendered inactive, resulting in widespread blackouts across the country.

This incident marks another setback for Nigeria’s electricity sector, which has been marred by persistent issues despite privatisation efforts aimed at revitalisation.

In a statement, the Jos Disco confirmed the collapse, saying: “The current outage being experienced within our franchise States is a result of loss of power supply from the national grid.

Read also: National grid collapses fourth time in three months, Nigerians in darkness

“The loss of power supply from the national grid occurred this afternoon at about 1333 hours of today, Wednesday, 11th December 2024, hence the loss of power supply on all our feeders.

“We hope to restore normal power supply to our esteemed customers as soon as the grid supply is restored back to normalcy.

“Thank you for your patience and understanding as we strive to serve you better.”

Confirming the development, Abuja DisCo also stated that a system disturbance occurred on the national grid at 1:32 pm on Wednesday causing a power outage across its franchise areas.

“While gradual restoration of power supply has commenced, be assured that we are coordinating closely with relevant stakeholders to restore power fully as soon as the grid is stabilised,” the company said in a statement.

Major power generation plants such as Egbin, Afam, Geregu, Ibom Power, Jebba, Kainji, Odukpani, and Olorunsogo, among others, remained dormant, further exacerbating the electricity deficit nationwide.