Nigeria’s national electricity grid has suffered a total collapse on Friday 23 January 2026 plunging parts of the country into blackout in the first such incident recorded in 2026.
Figures from the Nigerian Independent System Operator, NISO, indicated that power generation fell to zero megawatts, while electricity supply to all 11 distribution companies dropped completely by about 1 p.m.
The affected distribution firms include Benin, Eko, Enugu, Ikeja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Abuja and Yola, all of which recorded zero load allocation at the time of the collapse.
The incident comes months after a series of grid failures in 2025, with the most recent occurring on December 29.
These repeated breakdowns have persisted despite ongoing efforts to strengthen and expand the country’s power infrastructure.
Earlier, the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) announced the restoration of an additional 450 megawatts to the national grid following the completion of maintenance work at the Geregu National Integrated Power Project plant.
In another move aimed at improving system stability, NISO disclosed that on November 9, 2025, it collaborated with the West African Power Pool Information and Coordination Centre to carry out a synchronisation test linking Nigeria’s grid with the broader West African electricity network.
