The first major blackout of 2025 struck Nigeria on Saturday, January 11, following a collapse of the National Grid. This marks the first grid failure of the year and the 13th such incident in the past 13 months, raising concerns about the country’s power infrastructure.
According to the Nigerian System Operator’s portal, the collapse occurred precisely at 1:56 p.m. The portal later updated the public with progress on recovery efforts, stating, “Restoration has begun. Currently generating 302MW as of 02:40 pm.”
EnergyTimePod, a platform providing updates on power-related matters, explained the nuances of grid failures. They highlighted two types of collapses that could occur in such scenarios.
Partial Collapse: Some areas retain power despite the overall system disruption.
Total Collapse: Every region experiences a complete blackout, leaving the entire country in darkness.
In this instance, the grid collapse was reported at 1:56 p.m., with updates coming 36 minutes later. Addressing concerns about discrepancies in outage timing, EnergyTimePod clarified, “That your light went off 10 minutes after our report does not make it false. On our last check, generation was a little above 1000MW out of the possible 4500/4800MW.”
The frequent grid collapses have sparked widespread frustration among citizens and stakeholders, who continue to call for more robust and sustainable energy solutions.
