The Nigerian Independent System Operator has attributed Friday’s collapse of the national electricity grid to the simultaneous tripping of several 330kV transmission lines and the disconnection of some power generation units.
PlatinumPost reports that the grid failure caused electricity generation to crash from over 4,500 megawatts to as low as 24 megawatts by about 1:30pm on Friday.
During the incident, all 23 power plants connected to the national grid reportedly lost output, leading to zero power allocation to the country’s 11 distribution companies.
In a preliminary statement released on Saturday, the system operator said the disruption occurred at about 12:40pm, triggering a total outage across the interconnected network.
“The Nigerian Independent System Operator wishes to inform the public that at approximately 12:40 hours on Friday, 23 January, 2026, the national grid experienced a system-wide disturbance, which resulted in a total outage across the interconnected network,” the operator stated.
According to the statement, early operational findings showed that “the disturbance was associated with the simultaneous tripping of multiple 330kV transmission lines, alongside the disconnection of some grid-connected generating units.”
It added that “these events collectively contributed to the system collapse at the time indicated.”
NISO noted that recovery efforts began shortly after the outage.
“Following the outage, system restoration activities commenced at about 13:15 hours, in accordance with established grid restoration and recovery procedures,” the statement read.
The operator said electricity supply had since been restored to Abuja, Osogbo, Benin, Onitsha, Sakete, Jebba, Kainji, Shiroro and parts of Lagos, while restoration work continued in other areas of the country.
It also disclosed that an investigation into the incident was underway.
“A detailed investigation into the root and contributory causes of the disturbance is currently ongoing,” it said, adding that “the full restoration and stabilisation of the grid remains a top operational priority.”
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