At approximately 4:30 pm on Thursday, the central management point of the national electricity grid in Osogbo, Osun State, suffered a collapse, leading to a nationwide blackout.
This marks the fourth occurrence of such a collapse within the first quarter of the year.
Following the grid failure, numerous distribution companies have reported that their feeders became inactive, resulting in extensive power outages across the country.
The grid’s initial output of 2984 megawatts at 4 pm rapidly dropped to zero within an hour, causing all 21 connected plants to cease operations by 5 pm.
This event represents yet another setback for Nigeria’s struggling electricity sector, which continues to face challenges despite privatization efforts aimed at its improvement.
Since privatization efforts began a decade ago, the grid has encountered a troubling 141 collapses, highlighting the deep-rooted issues plaguing the industry.