Nigeria experienced its sixth power grid collapse of 2024, with electricity generation plummeting from 2,583.77MW at 2 am on Monday to 64.7MW around 3 am. The country generates an average of 4,000MW of electricity for its estimated 200 million citizens, but this is unsustainable due to recurrent collapses caused by factors such as gas supply constraints, transmission infrastructure vandalism, and liquidity crisis.
Data from the Independent System Operator, a branch of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, revealed that only one electricity generation company, Ibom Power, was active during the collapse. Power generation further dropped to 44.5MW around 4 am before rising to 132.29MW an hour later. The Jos Electricity Distribution Company confirmed the grid collapse.
The Head of Corporate Affairs at JEDC, Dr. Friday Elijah, notified customers that the outage was due to the loss of power supply from the national grid. He expressed hope for the grid's restoration for normal power supply to consumers. This collapse marks the sixth of the year, highlighting ongoing challenges in Nigeria's power sector.
A similar incident occurred on February 4, 2024, when power generation crashed to 59.9MW around 12 pm, leading to widespread blackouts. The collapse was attributed to issues with the grid managed by the Transmission Company of Nigeria. The recurrence of such collapses underscores the urgent need for comprehensive reforms to stabilize Nigeria's power supply.
