National grid collapses again, plunging parts of Nigeria into darkness

For the second time in just three days, Nigeria’s national grid has suffered a major collapse, causing widespread blackouts across several regions.

According to data from the Nigerian System Operator’s portal, power generation dropped to zero megawatts at approximately 11:30 a.m., affecting various generation companies nationwide.

Electricity distribution companies confirmed the incident on their social media platforms, apologizing to customers and acknowledging the impact of the collapse on service delivery. The repeated outages have raised concerns over the stability and reliability of the nation’s power infrastructure, which continues to struggle with frequent disruptions.

Efforts to restore power supply are ongoing, as stakeholders in the energy sector scramble to address the technical failures responsible for the grid’s instability.

“Please be informed that we experienced a system outage today 07 November 2024 at 11:29Hrs affecting supply within our network,” the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) serving parts of Lagos wrote on X.

“Restoration of supply is ongoing in collaboration with our critical stakeholders.

Kindly bear with us.”

The Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDP) also informed its customers of the “potential system failure”.

“Kindly be informed that at precisely 11.29 hours today, 7th November 2024, we experienced a simultaneous loss of supply across our network,” EKEDP said.

“A potential system failure or collapse is suspected. We are currently working with our partners as we hope for speedy restoration of the grid.”

The Jos Electricity Distribution Company said, “The current outage being experienced within our franchise States is a result of loss of power supply from the national grid.

“The loss of power supply from the national grid occurred this morning at about 1128 hours of today, Thursday, 7th November 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.”

‘Lines and Generators Trippings’Although the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is yet to comment on the most recent grid disturbance, Thursday’s development adds to the growing cases of grid collapses in the country.

On Tuesday, several parts of Nigeria were thrown into blackouts after the system experienced a collapse. Millions of homes were without power and waiting for the full restoration of the system.

The TCN blamed that incident on “a series of lines and generators trippings that caused instability of the grid and, consequently, the partial disturbance of the system.

“The data from the National Control Centre (NCC) revealed that a part of the grid was not affected by the bulk power disruption”.

In the wake of the incessant grid collapses the Federal Government blamed poor maintenance culture, and old and inadequate equipment among others for the issue. (Channels TV)