Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Gabriel Osa
Nigeria’s national electricity grid suffered a severe system collapse on Monday afternoon, December 29, 2025, leaving millions of residents, businesses and critical infrastructure across the country without grid-connected power and highlighting persistent fragilities in the nation’s energy sector. The disruption, which struck during peak hours of the day, saw total electricity supply fall dramatically to just 50 megawatts — a fraction of normal output — before a gradual recovery began later in the evening.
Data from multiple distribution companies (DisCos) showed a near-total blackout affecting most of Nigeria’s 11 licensed power distributors. Load figures released at approximately 3:12 p.m. indicated that only the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) and the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) were receiving any meaningful supply, recording about 30 MW and 20 MW respectively, while the remaining nine operators reported virtually no allocation at the height of the collapse.
The cascading outage sparked immediate darkness across major urban centres, including Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Kaduna and Kano, leaving homes without lighting, businesses without power, and hospitals and other essential services scrambling to rely on backup generation. Engineers and grid operators began emergency interventions, and by early evening reports suggested incremental increases in delivered capacity as parts of the system were synchronised and stabilised.
Officials from the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO), which manages grid operations, confirmed that the system had experienced a significant disturbance in the transmission network that rapidly spread throughout the interconnected grid, leading to the dramatic drop in power generation and distribution. Preliminary statements acknowledged the tripping of multiple generating units and critical transmission lines, though a comprehensive technical breakdown of the root causes has not yet been released.
Earlier in the day, total power generation had been recorded at figures well above 2,000 MW, but this plunged sharply in the space of an hour, leaving the national system on the brink of total failure. NISO representatives said that recovery efforts were ongoing and that corrective measures would be implemented to prevent future occurrences once the investigation into the collapse is complete.
Public reaction was swift, with millions of Nigerians taking to social media platforms to voice frustration over repeated grid failures. Many residents underscored the economic cost of unreliable power, noting that frequent outages drive up business expenses, disrupt daily life and force reliance on costly diesel generators. “This is not just an inconvenience anymore; it’s affecting our productivity and quality of life,” said one Lagos entrepreneur, speaking on condition of anonymity. For many small businesses and households, backup generation is an expensive necessity rather than a convenience.
Industrial and commercial activities were also hit hard. Manufacturing plants, telecommunications hubs, financial services and digital infrastructure experienced operational slowdowns or temporary shutdowns as the blackout spread. Healthcare facilities and emergency services struggled to maintain uninterrupted care, particularly in rural and underserved regions where access to backup power systems is limited. Experts warn that prolonged power interruptions can jeopardise sensitive medical equipment and strain already overstretched public health resources.
The collapse has reignited debate among energy sector analysts and policymakers about the structural weaknesses plaguing Nigeria’s power sector. While the nation has significant generation potential — with theoretical capacity in the tens of thousands of megawatts — actual delivered power remains limited by infrastructure bottlenecks, transmission inefficiencies and chronic underinvestment. Grid reliability has been further undermined by constraints in fuel supply for thermal plants, particularly disruptions in natural gas feedstock due to vandalism and other logistical challenges.
Critics have pointed to a pattern of grid collapses in recent years, with several major outages recorded in both 2024 and 2025, underscoring systemic issues in maintenance, grid management and investment prioritisation. These repeated failures have eroded public confidence and raised questions about the efficacy of reforms aimed at liberalising the electricity market and attracting private capital.
In response to the latest outage, civil society organisations and industry stakeholders have called for accelerated investment in grid modernisation, enhanced transparency in grid operations and increased accountability from both government agencies and private power producers. Some analysts are also urging a diversification of energy sources, including greater expansion of renewable power and decentralised systems that can operate independently from the national grid during emergencies.
Political figures were divided in their reactions. Opposition leaders criticised the government for what they described as chronic neglect of the power infrastructure and failure to implement sustainable solutions, while some ruling party representatives emphasised the technical complexity of managing a grid as large and interconnected as Nigeria’s, pledging increased focus on resilience and stability.
At the federal level, ministries responsible for power and energy are expected to issue detailed reports in the coming days, outlining the sequence of events that led to the collapse and proposing policy measures to reduce the risk of recurrence. In past outages, authorities have highlighted the need for better coordination between generation companies, gas suppliers and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), which oversees the high-voltage network infrastructure.
Economists warn that unless systemic reforms and significant investments are made, Nigeria’s chronic power reliability issues could continue to constrain economic growth and deter investment. Access to stable electricity is widely considered a key driver of industrialisation, job creation and socio-economic development; persistent blackouts undermine these goals and place additional burdens on businesses and consumers alike.
As night fell on Monday, most regions remained in partial darkness even as grid engineers worked to restore full supply and stabilise the network. Authorities have not yet announced a full restoration timetable. For a country of more than 200 million people, the disruption represents not only a technical failure but a stark reminder of the broader challenges that lie ahead in securing reliable power for all Nigerians.
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