By Akakan Umoh
The National Power Grid recorded its first collapse in 2026 on Friday, barely weeks after a similar incident on December 29, 2025, which had caused widespread power outages across the country.
Grid collapses have been attributed to a combination of technical faults, inadequate maintenance of transmission lines, and fluctuations in generation capacity.
Electricity generation dropped sharply from over 4,500 megawatts to as low as 24 megawatts as of 1:30 pm.
Checks showed that 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.
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The cause of the collapse could not be immediately determined, and officials of the Transmission Company of Nigeria had yet to issue a detailed statement at the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) has opened up on the national grid collapsed that occurred at approximately 12:40 pm on Friday, 23 January, 2026.
According to NISO, the national grid experienced a system-wide disturbance, which resulted in a total outage across the interconnected network.
The operator, however, stated that a detailed investigation into the root and contributory causes of the recent national grid disturbance is currently ongoing.
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A statement by the NSO Management in Abuja on Friday, said: “NISO wishes to inform the public that at approximately 12:40 pm on Friday the national grid experienced a system-wide disturbance, which resulted in a total outage across the interconnected network”.
According to the operator, preliminary operational reports indicate that the disturbance was associated with the simultaneous tripping of multiple 330 Kilo Volt (KV) transmission lines alongside the disconnection of some grid-connected generating units.
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“These events collectively contributed to the system collapse at the time indicated. Following the outage, system restoration activities commenced at about 13:15 pm, in accordance with established grid restoration and recovery procedures.
“As of the time of this update, electricity supply has been successfully restored to Abuja, Osogbo, Benin, Onitsha, Sapele, Jebba, Kainji, Shiroro, and parts of Lagos,” it said.
The operator also said that restoration efforts were continuing progressively in other parts of the country. The operator, however, said that full restoration and stabilisation of the grid remained a top operational priority.
