Again, Nigeria’s electricity grid collapses

Nigeria’s electricity grid collapsed again, on Saturday, throwing several cities into darkness.

Electricity companies announced that the grid collapsed around 08:15 a.m. on Saturday.

The latest collapse is coming days after the grid collapsed on Tuesday.

Confirming the collapse, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) said, “Dear valued customer, kindly be informed there was a system collapse at 08:15 hrs which has resulted to a loss of power supply across our network.

“We are currently working with our partners as we hope for speedy restoration of the grid. We will keep you updated as soon as the power supply is restored. Kindly bear with us,” it said.

Ikeja Electric said: “Dear valued customer, kindly be informed that we experienced a system outage today 19/10/24 at 08:15 hrs affecting power supply across our network.

“Efforts are currently being coordinated by the relevant stakeholders to effect restoration of supply to all locations by this development. Kindly bear with us,” it said.

On Tuesday, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the last election, Peter Obi, described Nigeria’s electricity grid collapse as “a national shame.”

Mr Obi described the incident as the failure of leadership and policy implementation.

In recent years, the power sector has experienced many challenges in areas of electricity policy enforcement, regulatory uncertainty, gas supply, transmission system constraints, and significant power sector planning shortfalls.

In November 2013, the federal government privatised all power generation and 11 distribution companies, with the government retaining the ownership of the transmission company. This was to improve efficiency in the sector.

However, since privatisation, the grid has continued to collapse amid efforts to reposition the power sector.