Nigerians Experience Blackout in 6 States As FG Commences Repairs on National Grid

• The national grid has become quite infamous in recent years for its habitual collapse, throwing the electricity consumers into a blackout
• Another five-day blackout is set to affect six states in the country, but this time, it is not due to the national grid collapse
• The federal government has commenced a phased repair of critical infrastructure on the grid, and at least six states have been affected in the first phase

Legit.ng journalist Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon has over a decade of experience in business reporting across digital and mainstream media.

Electricity consumers in six states across Nigeria will experience a blackout for at least four days as the federal government has started repairing the national grid.

The Nigerian Independent System Operator stated that the repairs are necessary to resolve decade-long issues that have caused underperformance, as well as to improve and stabilise the country's electricity supply.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria is coordinating the exercise alongside an upgrade of critical transmission infrastructure.

Blackout hits six Nigerian states

The first phase of the upgrade is focused on a turn-in-turn-out connection along the 330kV Jos–Bauchi–Gombe line to link the new Bauchi substation.

In this phase, six states in the Northeast region have been affected, but it will extend to other states in the coming weeks.

The managing director of the Nigerian Independent System Operator, Abdu Mohammed, said in a video statement released on Wednesday that the nationwide maintenance project would soon extend to other regions.

The first six states affected in the blackout include Borno, Taraba, Yobe, Adamawa, Bauchi, and Gombe states.

Mr. Mohammed appealed to the customers and distribution companies in the states to be patient as the TCN carried out the upgrade, promising that the electricity supply would improve afterwards.

The blackout started on Tuesday and is expected to last till Saturday to allow TCN to complete the project.

Blackout will extend to other states

Mr. Mohammed noted that the project is progressing in phases and would soon move on to other states when the government extends the upgrades to other regions in the coming months

He explained that the government is executing it in phases to prevent a nationwide disruption:

“The goal is to drastically improve the reliability and availability of electricity supply across Nigeria. This is what we have in place for now, and we believe that at the end of the day, it would be a win-win situation. The outage may be consequential, but a limited supply will be given through alternative lines.”

TCN releases statement on 5-day power outage

Commenting on the project, TCN remarked that the five-day power outage, which began on Tuesday, was a result of the repairs on the transmission line to link the newly built Bauchi 330kV transmission substation to the national grid.

According to PUNCH news, TCN General Manager for Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, assured that the project would be completed by Saturday, June 14, 2025.

The statement noted that the bulk electricity supply would be reduced for Jos and Yola discos, and listed affected areas to include Gombe, Savannah, Damaturu/Potiskum, Ashaka, Biu, and Bauchi, with Yola and Jalingo experiencing a 100% blackout.

He added that the installation of a new transmission tower is strengthening the power supply in the area. He explained that after the repairs, Jos will be able to supply Bauchi Substation directly whenever the primary 330kV connection from Gombe is unavailable.

TCN earlier carried out maintenance at a substation, impacting power supply to the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).

Four states experience blackout as transmission towers collapse

In related news by Legit.ng, at least four states suffered major disruptions to their power supply due to the collapse of three transmission towers during a windstorm.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) deployed multiple contractors to the site to fix the problems and re-erect the towers.

Legit.ng reported that electricity consumers in the affected states had to rely on backup plans that the TCN put in place.

Proofreading by Kola Muhammed, copy editor at Legit.ng.

Source: Legit.ng