Nigeria’s national power grid collapsed on Friday, causing a total blackout across the country for the first time in 2026.
Naijaonpoint reports that the incident happened on January 23, 2026, when power generation fell to zero megawatts, according to records from the Nigerian Independent System Operator.
Data from the agency showed that electricity supply to all 11 distribution companies dropped to zero by about 1 pm.
The affected companies included Benin, Eko, Enugu, Ikeja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Abuja and Yola, leaving homes and businesses without power.
This latest failure came after several similar incidents in 2025, with the last one recorded on December 29.
The grid has continued to suffer repeated breakdowns even after efforts were made to improve its capacity and stability.
Recently, the Niger Delta Power Holding Company announced that it restored an extra 450 megawatts to the grid after completing maintenance work at the Geregu National Integration Power Project plant. The upgrade was expected to help reduce system failures.
Earlier in November 2025, the system operator also worked with the West African Power Pool Information and Coordination Centre to test the link between Nigeria’s grid and the regional power network.
Despite these steps, the grid still collapsed again, raising fresh concerns about the reliability of electricity supply in the country.