Blackout as National Grid Collapses for the Sixth Time in 2024

The Nigerian power grid collapsed once again on Monday, 19 October 2024, marking the sixth time this year that the entire country has been plunged into total darkness.

According to data from the Nigerian System Operator’s portal (niggrid.org), by 7:00 pm and at the time this report was filed, the grid had registered an unprecedented output of zero Megawatts (MW).

Some of the electricity distribution companies in the country have confirmed the development.

“The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC) wishes to inform her esteemed customers of a general system collapse that occurred at 18:48 hours today, 14th October, 2024,” EEDC said in a release.

“This has resulted in the loss of supply currently being experienced across EEDC network.Consequently, due to this development, all our interface TCN stations are out of supply, and we are unable to provide services to our customers in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States.

“We are on standby awaiting detailed information of the collapse and restoration of supply from the National Control Centre (NCC), Osogbo.”

Information from the portal revealed that all 22 generation companies (GenCos) were offline at the time of this report.

This collapse is the sixth grid failure in 2024, exacerbating the long-standing challenges that have affected Nigeria’s power sector.

The first blackout in 2024 occurred on 4 February when the national grid collapsed at around 11:51 am, causing the TCN-operated grid to fall from 2,407 megawatts to just 31MW by midday, and eventually to zero by 1:00 pm.

The fifth blackout of the year was recorded on 5 August.