The national grid collapsed once more on Monday at approximately 6:18 PM, leaving vast portions of Nigeria without power. This marks another instance in the country’s long-standing struggle with grid reliability.
According to data obtained by our correspondent, power generation dropped from 3.87 gigawatts at 5 PM to 3.56 gigawatts at 6 PM. By 7 PM and 8 PM, it had fallen to 0.00 gigawatts, plunging the nation into a total blackout.
The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) confirmed the grid collapse in a statement released later in the evening. The company informed its customers of “a general system collapse that occurred at 18:48 hours on 14th October 2024,” which led to widespread outages across the EEDC network.
“Due to this development, all our interface Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) stations are currently out of supply. Consequently, we are unable to serve our customers in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States,” the statement read. The EEDC, represented by its Head of Corporate Communications, Emeka Ezeh, added that they were awaiting further details from the National Control Centre (NCC) in Osogbo regarding the cause of the collapse and the timeline for restoration.
Similarly, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) issued a notice to its customers. “Dear Valued Customer, please be informed that the power outage being experienced is due to a system failure from the national grid at 6:58 PM today, affecting power supply to our franchise areas,” the statement said.
The AEDC assured customers that it was working closely with stakeholders to restore power once the grid stabilises.
The latest grid collapse underscores the critical challenges facing Nigeria’s power sector, which has been plagued by frequent breakdowns, leaving millions of citizens without consistent access to electricity.
