By Blessing Otobong-Gabriel
Nigeria was thrown into darkness yesterday as the national grid collapsed for the first time in 2026.
This came barely weeks after a similar incident on December 29, 2025 which also caused widespread power outage across the country.
The incident left parts of the country in darkness and disrupted electricity supply to millions of households and businesses.
Checks revealed that electricity generation dropped sharply from over 4,500 megawatts to as low as 24 megawatts as of 1:30pm.
All 23 power generation plants connected to the grid reportedly lost output during the incident, resulting in zero power allocation to each of the 11 electricity distribution companies.
The cause of the collapse could not be immediately determined and officials of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, had yet to issue a detailed statement at the time of filing this report.
In recent years, grid collapses have been attributed to a combination of technical faults, inadequate maintenance of transmission lines and fluctuations in generation capacity.
Stakeholders have continued to urge government and power operators to implement robust contingency measures to prevent recurring failures.
While the public awaits an official explanation, this latest collapse has renewed concerns over Nigeria’s electricity infrastructure and its ability to support the growing demand for reliable power.
