Tobias Sylvester
Nigeria plunged into darkness on Thursday afternoon as the national grid collapsed ahead of the Easter holidays.
Managed centrally from Osogbo, Osun state, the national electricity grid suffered a major breakdown at 4:30 pm, leaving millions of households and businesses without power.
Various distribution companies (DisCos) reported inactive feeders, leading to widespread blackouts across the country.
Data from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) indicated that the grid collapsed around 4 pm, plummeting from 2,984 megawatts (MW) to zero within an hour, with all 21 connected plants ceasing operations by 5 pm.
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) released a statement attributing the current power outage to a system failure in the national grid.
AEDC stated, “The system collapsed at about 16:28 hours today 28 March 2024, causing the outage currently being experienced across our franchise area.
“We appeal for your understanding as all stakeholders are working hard to restore normal supply.”
Similarly, the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) informed its customers through a notice that the system collapse resulted in a loss of power supply across its network.
EKEDC assured its customers that they are collaborating with partners to expedite the restoration of the grid, promising to provide updates as soon as power supply is reinstated.
“We are currently working with our partners as we hope for speedy restoration of the grid. We will keep you updated as soon as the power supply is restored. Kindly bear with us,” EKEDC said.
This incident marks another instance of National grid collapse in recent times, with three similar occurrences recorded in 2023 on September 14, 19, and December 11.
