The Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) has attributed Friday’s national electricity grid collapse to the “simultaneous tripping of multiple 330kV transmission lines” and the sudden “disconnection of some grid-connected generating units.”
The failure, which occurred on January 23, 2026, saw power generation crash from over 4,500 megawatts to a mere 24 MW by early afternoon.
This “system-wide disturbance” caused all 23 power plants to lose output, leaving the nation’s 11 distribution companies with “zero allocation.”
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In a preliminary statement released on Saturday, NISO explained that the outage began at approximately 12:40 pm, resulting in a “total outage across the interconnected network.”
The operator noted that the combination of line trippings and unit disconnections “collectively contributed to the system collapse at the time indicated.”
Recovery efforts were launched almost immediately, with NISO stating, “Following the outage, system restoration activities commenced at about 13:15 hours, in accordance with established grid restoration and recovery procedures.”
By the time of the report, supply had been returned to Abuja, Osogbo, Benin, Onitsha, Sakete, Jebba, Kainji, Shiroro, and sections of Lagos.
NISO assured the public that “the full restoration and stabilisation of the grid remains a top operational priority,” while confirming that a “detailed investigation into the root and contributory causes of the disturbance is currently ongoing.”
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