Nigeria was thrown into another round of widespread blackout on Friday following a near-total collapse of the national electricity grid, with power generation dropping to as low as 20 megawatts nationwide.
Following the collapse, electricity load allocation to the country’s 11 distribution companies (DisCos) fell sharply to just 20 megawatts as of Friday afternoon. Data released by the Nigeria National Grid on its verified X (formerly Twitter) account at about 1:20 p.m. showed that only the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company received power supply, with an allocation of 20MW.
According to the data, Abuja, Benin, Eko, Enugu, Ikeja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcourt and Yola DisCos all recorded zero megawatts, indicating a near-total shutdown of power supply across the country.
The latest collapse comes barely three weeks after the national grid slipped into emergency mode on December 29, 2025, leaving most DisCos without electricity. During that incident, power generation fell sharply within one hour—from 2,052.37MW to 139.92MW between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.—signaling a major system disturbance.
At the time, the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) reported that only three of the 11 DisCos were able to receive power, with total allocation standing at just 120MW nationwide. Ibadan DisCo received 80MW, while Abuja and Benin DisCos received 20MW each. All other DisCos were unable to take any load from the grid.
Nigeria’s electricity grid has suffered repeated collapses in recent months. On September 10, 2025, the grid also failed, plunging the country into darkness. In March 2025, a similar incident left several parts of the country, including Lagos, without power.
The recurring grid failures have occurred despite government assurances and celebrations over what it described as a “historic rise” in power generation to 6,000MW. In previous incidents, generation levels later dropped sharply to below 1,000MW after sudden system disturbances.
