Around 1 pm on Sunday, power generation on the national grid plummeted to zero megawatts as the entire grid experienced a nationwide collapse. According to data from the power ministry, electricity generation on the grid declined from 2,407MW at 11:53 am to 31MW by noon on Sunday, ultimately crashing to 0MW an hour later.
This widespread blackout affected the entire country, with power distribution companies attributing the situation to the collapse of the grid managed by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, an agency of the Federal Government. Kaduna Disco, for instance, confirmed that the loss of bulk power supply resulted in Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Kebbi states being plunged into darkness on Sunday.
According to data from the TCN, all 20 power plants, except for Ibom Power generating 31 megawatts, were offline as of 11:51 am on Sunday.
It is worth noting that on December 12, 2023, PUNCH Newspaper reported a system collapse in Nigeria's national grid, causing power generation to plummet from 4,032.8MW to 43.5MW the day before.
The TCN's power generation figures from that time indicated an increase in electricity on the system to 115.4MW around 3 pm on December 11, 2023, followed by a further rise to 240.9MW at approximately 4 pm.
It reached 544.9MW at 5 pm and continued its upward trajectory as the TCN worked diligently to restore the national grid.
Regarding the situation at that time, Ndidi Mbah, the spokesperson of the transmission company, acknowledged the grid collapse but promptly assured that TCN engineers successfully restored the system.
She stated, "The grid experienced a collapse today (Monday). Presently, it (supply) has been restored except for the Jos axis, which will soon have supply within the hour. The collapse happened by 13.49 pm this afternoon. It is now fully restored by 18.51 pm."
In September of the preceding year, Nigeria's power grid faced a series of collapses, drawing criticism from power consumers for the frequent grid failures. On September 20, 2023, the country encountered widespread blackouts once again as the national power grid collapsed, marking the third such incident in about five days during that period. This occurred despite the Federal Government's privatization of the successor generation and transmission arms of the power sector in November 2013.