NIGERIA’S national grid has collapsed 11 times since February 2024, worsening the country’s electricity crises.
The ICIR reports that each failure affects households, businesses, and critical sectors like healthcare, where a consistent power supply is essential.
The last of such collapse was recorded on Wednesday, December 11, throwing many parts of the country into darkness.
This year’s first grid collapse occurred on February 4, 2024, when the grid’s capacity fell from 2,407 megawatts to just 31 megawatts by midday, eventually reaching zero.
Since then, the grid has continued to break down, including collapses on August 5 and three times in October.
Notably, the October 14 collapse was followed by a partial failure the next day, and another incident on October 19.
The breakdowns highlight the challenges with the country’s outdated power infrastructure, which has repeatedly failed to deliver stable electricity.
On December 6, The ICIR reported how the Senate threatened to reverse the power privatisation.
While criticising the power privatisation and describing it as “fraudulent and exploitative” the Senate said the privatisation plunged Nigeria deeper into darkness, leaving citizens without solutions.
It also condemned operators in the sector, comprising Generation Companies (GenCos), Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), and Distribution Companies (DisCos), over their inability to deliver reliable electricity, asserting that they had added no significant value to the sector.
Senators’ reactions followed the presentation of a report by the Senate Committee on Power during Thursday’s plenary, which investigated frequent national grid collapses and related issues.
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (APGA, Abia South), who presented the findings, attributed the persistent grid failures to factors such as ageing infrastructure, abandoned projects worth trillions of naira, regulatory inefficiencies, security lapses, lack of modern monitoring systems like supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), and inadequate financial oversight.
According to him, despite substantial investments in electricity infrastructure, the grid has suffered 105 collapses over the past decade. He revealed the significant costs incurred during grid failures, particularly in restarting power plants.
He said, “Restarting a plant after a grid collapse (known as a “black start”) is considerably more expensive than normal operations.”
Citing an instance, he disclosed that while running costs for a plant like Azura, Delta, or Shiroro are approximately $105,000, restarting costs can reach $7 million per incident.
The ICIR reports that grid collapses cost Nigeria an estimated ₦42.5 billion for these three plants alone, with broader implications for the entire power sector.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M