Once again, Nigeria is grappling with a comprehensive blackout as the national power grid, centrally operated from Osogbo, Osun State, experienced a failure around 4:30 pm on Thursday. This has resulted in a power outage for millions of residences and businesses.
This recent event is the fourth instance of grid failure in just the first quarter of this year, intensifying the long-standing issues that have consistently troubled Nigeria’s power sector. Distribution companies (DisCos) across the country’s 36 states have reported that their feeders were disabled, causing power outages on a large scale.
The output of the grid, which was at 2,984 megawatts as of 4 pm on Thursday, fell to zero within an hour. By 5 pm, all 21 plants linked to the grid had halted operations.
This occurrence represents another setback for Nigeria’s electricity sector, which has been battling ongoing problems despite efforts to revitalize it through privatization. In the decade since privatization, the grid has collapsed an astonishing 141 times, underlining the systemic issues facing the sector.
At the time of reporting, at 6:00 pm, only the Azura Power Plant was contributing to the grid, with a modest output of 54 megawatts.
Major power generation facilities such as Egbin, Afam, Geregu, Ibom Power, Jebba, Kainji, Odukpani, and Olorunsogo, among others, remained non-operational, worsening the nationwide power shortage.
