Nationwide Blackout Strikes as Nigeria’s Power Grid Collapses 

By Adeke Chukwuka

A nationwide blackout has occurred in Nigeria due to the complete failure of the electricity grid at approximately 12:40 a.m. on September 14, 2023. This event has resulted in a significant disruption to the supply of electricity to distributors across the country.

Several sources within the power sector and electricity distribution companies verified this development on Thursday morning. On Thursday, the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company Plc issued a notice titled ‘Notice of Total System Collapse.’

The EEDC issued a notice informing its valued customers of a total system collapse at 12:40 a.m. on September 14, 2023, leading to a loss of supply across their network. This outage affects customers in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo states.

The EEDC is awaiting information on the collapse and restoration of supply from the National Control Centre in Osogbo.

Emeka Ezeh, the Head of Corporate Communications at EEDC, signed the notice of a total system collapse. As of now, the TCN, responsible for managing Nigeria’s grid, has not issued any statement regarding this development.

His statement reads in parts, “The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC) wishes to inform her esteemed customers of a total system collapse that occurred at 12:40 a.m. today, September 14, 2023. This has resulted in the loss of supply currently experienced across the network.

“Due to this development, all our interface TCN stations are out of supply, and we are unable to provide service to our customers in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States.

“We are on standby awaiting detailed information on the collapse and restoration of supply from the National Control Centre (NCC), Osogbo.”

Approximately one week ago, the transmission firm celebrated 400 consecutive days of power grid stability in Nigeria, highlighting that there were no grid collapses during that period.