JUST IN: National Grid Collapse Plunges Nigeria Into Widespread Blackout

Nigeria was plunged into darkness on Wednesday as the national electricity grid collapsed yet again, disrupting supply across the country. At 12:25 p.m., official data showed an almost total blackout with only Abuja (20MW), Benin (10MW), and Ibadan (20MW) distribution companies receiving any load, while others, including Eko, Ikeja, Enugu, Kaduna, and Port Harcourt, had zero allocation.

This is the latest in a series of nationwide power failures that have repeatedly crippled homes and businesses. A similar collapse occurred in March, cutting power in major cities such as Lagos. The setback comes just days after the federal government announced what it described as a “historic rise” in power generation to 6,000MW, raising questions about the reliability of the power infrastructure.

Data showed that the sudden disturbance pushed generation below 1,000MW by 2:00 p.m., a steep drop from around 4,000MW earlier in the day. The highest peak recorded before the collapse stood at 5,284MW.

Electricity providers confirmed the development. Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company told customers: “Dear esteemed customer, please be informed that we experienced a system outage today, 07/03/2025, at 14:00hrs, affecting supply within our network.”