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•Egbin, Alaoji, others grounded at zero generation
By Adewale Sanyaolu
Nigeria’s fragile power generation capacity suffered another major setback on Sunday as 17 of the nation’s 25 power plants shut down completely, with total generation plummeting 1,471.69MW.
Data Obtained from the portal of Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) as of 2.10pm yesterday showed that only eight power plants were producing electricity for a country of more than 200 million people-translating to roughly seven watts per person, far below the sub-saharan average and a fraction of what emerging economies generate.
Nigeria’s installed generation capacity stands at over 13,000MW, yet actual daily supply rarely exceeds 4,000–5,000MW under stable conditions. Sunday’s 1,471MW output represents less than 12 per cent of installed capacity.
The eight plants that kept the lights flickering were: Dadinkowa 17.35MW; Geregu 102MW; Geregu NIPP 90MW; Okpai 194MW; Omoku 27.50; Omotosho 27.50MW; Shiroro 297.04MW and Zungeru 300MW.
Among the plants recording 0MW were some of Nigeria’s biggest generation assets: Afam lll, AfamVI, Alaoji NIPP, Delta (Gas), Egbin, GPAL, Ihovbor, Jebba, Kainji, MEPP.
Others are: Odukpani, Olorunsogo, Paras Energy, Rivers IPP, Sapele, Taopex and Trans Afam Power.
The shutdown of Egbin Power Plc, Nigeria’s largest thermal plant with an installed capacity of 1,320MW, sent shockwaves through Lagos, where homes and businesses experienced widespread blackouts as early as 3:11pm.
Egbin’s spokesman, Felix Ofolue, attributed the outage to maintenance work by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
“TCN commenced maintenance works from 9am to 12pm, and that impacted our operations,” he said, expressing optimism that normalcy would soon be restored.
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Nigeria’s power sector has long been trapped in a vicious cycle of gas shortages, transmission bottlenecks, liquidity crises and weak market discipline.
Industry data show that over 80 per cent of Nigeria’s generation capacity is gas-fired. Yet gas supply to power plants remains erratic due to pipeline vandalism, unpaid debts to gas suppliers and pricing disputes.
The country’s per capita electricity consumption remains below 160 kWh annually, compared to South Africa’s over 3,500 kWh, underscoring the depth of Nigeria’s energy poverty. Manufacturers now spend an estimated 40–60 per cent of operating costs on self-generation using diesel and gas generators, according to industry associations — a burden that continues to erode competitiveness, inflate inflation and weaken GDP growth.
An analysis of system disturbances shows that Nigeria recorded two grid collapses in January 2026 within a three-day interval, January 23 and January 26.
In 2024 alone, the grid collapsed almost monthly, recording 12 incidents. However, there was a modest reduction in 2025, with four major incidents recorded on February 12, March 7, September 10 and December 29.
Electricity enthusiasts insist that agencies meant to safeguard the grid, Transmission Company of Nigeria(TCN) and Nigeria Independent System Operator(NISO), have become part of the problem, while years of secrecy surrounding the Siemens Presidential Power Initiative, weak reforms and stalled decentralisation continue to undermine efforts to deliver stable power to homes and industries.
In a recent interview, Professor of Electricity and Energy Law at the University of Lagos, Yemi Oke, said it was troubling that the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and the Nigeria Independent System Operator (NISO) have become institutional problems.
“No doubt, there are manpower issues across the value chain. As suggested by us, TCN has been balkanised into two entities; TCN and NISO. TCN deals with transmission infrastructure, while NISO handles load shedding and other technical components of system operations.
“We had NISO about two years ago and, by now, we believe things should be okay. Rather, the reverse is the case. The government only deployed old hands from the bureaucracy to manage NISO. I expected NISO to do much more than they are doing now. At the level of NISO, they are still not getting things right,” he said.
