National grid collapses again, power generation drops to 24MW

Power Minister, Adelabu

The National Power Grid collapsed once again, leaving parts of the country in darkness and disrupting electricity supply to millions of households and businesses.

Checks by our correspondent revealed that electricity generation dropped sharply from over 4,500 megawatts to as low as 24 megawatts as of 1:30 pm.

All 23 power generation plants connected to the grid reportedly lost output during the incident, resulting in zero power allocation to each of the 11 electricity distribution companies.

The cause of the collapse could not be immediately determined, and officials of the Transmission Company of Nigeria had yet to issue a detailed statement at the time of filing this report.

This is the first grid collapse recorded in 2026, coming barely weeks after a similar incident on December 29, 2025, which had also caused widespread power outages across the country.

PUNCH Online reports that in recent years, grid collapses have been attributed to a combination of technical faults, inadequate maintenance of transmission lines, and fluctuations in generation capacity.

Stakeholders have continued to call on the government and power operators to implement robust contingency measures to prevent recurring failures. Punch