Why Nigeria’s National Grid Collapsed on Friday, Explains NISO
Nigeria was thrown into nationwide darkness on Friday, January 23, 2026, following a total collapse of the national electricity grid that disrupted power supply across homes, businesses, and critical infrastructure.
The Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) attributed the incident to a major technical disturbance involving the simultaneous tripping of key transmission lines and the sudden disconnection of multiple power generation units. In an official statement released on Saturday, NISO disclosed that the grid collapsed at about 12:40 p.m. after several 330kV high-voltage transmission lines tripped at the same time, triggering a cascading system failure. The disturbance was further worsened by the loss of grid-connected generating units, which ultimately overwhelmed the system’s stability controls. As a result, national power generation dropped to zero megawatts, while electricity allocation to all 11 distribution companies (DisCos) was completely suspended, confirming a total grid shutdown. The blackout affected major cities and regions including Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano, Ibadan, Enugu, Benin, Kaduna, Jos, and Yola, among others. Before the collapse, the grid had been transmitting over 4,000 megawatts, indicating that the system was operating at a relatively stable capacity prior to the sudden failure. The outage caused widespread disruption to commercial activities, healthcare services, telecommunications, and households, once again drawing attention to the vulnerability of Nigeria’s power infrastructure. NISO said system restoration began at approximately 1:15 p.m. using established black-start and recovery protocols. Electricity supply has since been restored to several locations, including parts of Abuja, Lagos, Benin, Osogbo, Onitsha, Sakete, Jebba, Kainji, and Shiroro, while work continues to stabilize supply nationwide The operator confirmed that a comprehensive technical investigation is ongoing to determine the root and contributory causes of the collapse, including possible equipment failure, protection system malfunctions, operational lapses, and network instability. Industry analysts note that recurring grid failures in Nigeria are often linked to aging transmission infrastructure, overloaded 330kV lines, insufficient spinning reserves, weak automation systems, and underinvestment in maintenance and grid modernization. Friday’s incident marks the first national grid collapse of 2026, renewing public concern over the resilience of Nigeria’s power sector and intensifying calls for urgent reforms, infrastructure upgrades, and stronger grid management to prevent future nationwide outages.
