Nigeria’s national electricity grid collapsed on Friday, January 23, 2026, plunging the entire country into darkness in the first nationwide blackout recorded this year.
Data from the Nigerian Independent System Operator showed that power generation dropped to zero megawatts at about 1:00 pm, leading to a complete loss of electricity supply across the country.
Electricity supply to all 11 Distribution Companies (DisCos) was affected, including Benin, Eko, Enugu, Ikeja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Abuja and Yola, leaving homes, offices and businesses without power nationwide.
The national grid operator later confirmed that the outage was caused by a grid disturbance, though full details of the incident were yet to be made public as of press time.
The latest collapse comes despite ongoing efforts to stabilise the power sector. Only recently, the Niger Delta Power Holding Company announced the restoration of about 450 megawatts to the grid following the completion of maintenance work at the Geregu National Integrated Power Project, an upgrade expected to strengthen grid stability.
Nigeria’s power grid has suffered repeated collapses in recent years, with the last major nationwide outage recorded on December 29, 2025, raising renewed concerns over the resilience and reliability of the country’s electricity infrastructure.
In November 2025, the system operator also carried out tests linking Nigeria’s grid with the West African regional power network in collaboration with the West African Power Pool, as part of broader efforts to improve grid performance.
As of the time of filing this report, efforts were ongoing to restore power supply, while industry stakeholders continued to call for long-term structural reforms to prevent recurring grid failures.
