Nigeria has been thrown into darkness again following the collapse of the national grid for the fourth time in one month.

The development comes after the grid collapsed three times in one week towards the end of last month and ten times this year.

Hourly generation readings from power generation companies across the country this afternoon shows zero outputs.

For instance, power stations such as Afam IV and V and VI read 0 Mega Watts.

Also other stations such as Azura-EDO, showed 0 MW, Dadinkowa, 0 MW, Delta 0 MW, Egbin 0 MW, Geregu 0 MW, Geregu-NIPP. 0 MW, Ibom-Power. 0 MW, Jebba 0 MW, Kainji 0 MW, Odukpani. 0 MW, Okpai. 0 MW, Olorunsogo. 0 MW, Olorunsogo-NIPP. 0 MW, Omoku. 0 MW, Omotosho. 0 MW, Paras 0 MW, Rivers IPP. 0 MW, and Shiroro. 0 MW.

As at about 2.30 pm today, all the power stations in the country recorded zero megawatts of electricity.

 

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is yet to explain the situation on ground. This is even as almost all parts of the country have been plunged into darkness.

Nigeria experienced its first total blackout on February 4, 2024 when the national grid collapsed at approximately 11:51 AM. The grid saw its capacity plummet from 2,407 megawatts to just 31MW by noon, and it completely shut down by 1 pm.

The minister of power, Adebayo Adelabu last month said the grid collapses is almost inevitable in Nigeria given the deplorable state of the country’s power infrastructure.

He said there was a need to have power grids in different regions or states to put an end to incessant grid collapses.

According to him, having multiple power grids in each region and state would ensure stability.

He noted that the decentralisation of the power sector would help the plan to build grids in each region, saying this was made possible by the Electricity Act signed by President Bola Tinubu in 2023.
“This Electricity Act has decentralised power. It has enabled all the subnational governments, the state government and the local government to be able to participate in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity.

“We all rely on a single national grid today; if there is a disturbance of the national grid, it affects all 36 states. It shouldn’t be like that. “This will enable us to start moving gradually towards having regional groups and possibly having state grids,” the minister said.