Nigeria’s electricity grid collapsed Friday afternoon, cutting power nationwide after generation and load allocation dropped to zero across all distribution companies, according to data from the Nigerian Independent System Operator.
The system failure occurred at about 1 p.m., when electricity supply to all distribution companies fell to zero. Grid data showed power generation plunged from more than 4,500 megawatts earlier in the day to zero, triggering a total shutdown across the country.
A review of the national load profile showed all distribution companies recorded zero load, confirming the outage was nationwide. Companies affected included those serving Abuja, Lagos, Benin, Enugu, Ibadan, Ikeja, Jos, Kano, Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Yola.
Before the collapse, demand was reported to be strong in major urban centers. Abuja Electricity Distribution Company was receiving about 639 megawatts, while Ikeja Electric had been allocated roughly 630 megawatts.
By about 1:30 p.m., generation had dropped as low as 24 megawatts. All 23 power generation plants connected to the national grid reportedly lost output during the incident, resulting in zero power allocation to each of the country’s 11 distribution companies.
As of the time of filing this report, the Transmission Company Of Nigeria which manages the national grid, had not disclosed the cause of the collapse. While restoration efforts were said to be underway, no timeline was given for full recovery, and company officials could not be reached immediately for comment.
The incident is the first recorded collapse of Nigeria’s national grid in 2026. It comes just weeks after a similar failure on Dec. 29, 2025, which also caused widespread outages.
In recent years, grid collapses in Nigeria have been blamed on a combination of technical faults, poor maintenance of transmission infrastructure and fluctuations in power generation capacity.
