After hours of a nationwide blackout triggered by the collapse of the national power grid on Thursday morning, electricity supply has been successfully restored in Nigeria.
The Eko Electricity Distribution Company announced the welcome development via their social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, stating, “Dear Valued Customer, Kindly be informed that the power supply has been restored from the grid. Thank you for your patience.”
Reports indicated that a significant power outage had affected major cities and towns across the country due to the grid failure on Thursday.
As of 4:00 a.m. on Thursday, only five power generating plants were operational. Afam VI contributed 0.70MW, Dadinkowa reported 0.00MW, Ibom Power generated 32.90MW, Jebba produced 240MW, and Olorunsogo was on the grid with zero generation capacity.
The situation was particularly dire as the national grid dropped to an extremely low level of 273 megawatts in the early hours of Thursday. This meager amount was derived from just two out of the more than 27 electricity generation facilities in the country.
Several distribution companies confirmed that the grid failure occurred at 00:41 AM, affecting most of their feeders and plunging large parts of the country into darkness.
This recent incident highlights the ongoing challenges in Nigeria’s power sector, including the need for significant infrastructure investment and improvements in the reliability and stability of the national grid to ensure consistent electricity supply to the nation’s citizens and businesses.