On Thursday morning Nigerians were thrown into darkness after the national grid system collapsed.

The system is operated by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in Osogbo, Osun State.

Some of the nation’s distribution companies confirmed that the grid collapsed in the early hours of Thursday, as most of their feeders are out.

The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC said that “a total system collapse” occurred at 12:40 am on Thursday.

“This has resulted in the loss of supply currently being experienced across the network,” the company said in a statement signed by Emeka Ezeh, head of corporate communications.

Due to this development, the distribution company said all its interface TCN stations are out of supply, and it will be unable to provide service to customers in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States.

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

The Eko Electricity Distribution Company said, “Kindly be informed that a system collapse occurred today at 6:41 am. This has resulted in a total loss of supply across our network.

“We are in continuous communication with our partners at the NCC, Osogbo. You will be updated as we get more information,” the company said in a statement on its X handle.

Many other states released similar statements.

The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) also reported the collapse.

“The management of AEDC wishes to inform its customers that the power outage currently being experienced is a result of a system failure from the national grid in the early hours of 14 September.

“Rest assured that we are working with the relevant stakeholders to restore power as soon as the grid is stabilised,” the company said.

The TCN said in August the Nigerian power grid has recorded an unparalleled period of stability in the history of the power sector, operating without any major disruptions or systems collapse for an impressive span of 400 consecutive days and counting.

In recent years, the power sector has experienced many broad challenges related to electricity policy enforcement, regulatory uncertainty, gas supply, transmission system constraint and major power sector planning shortfalls.

In 2022 alone, the country’s national grid collapsed eight times.

The general manager of public affairs at the TCN, Ndidi Mbah, told Premium Times on Thursday that the public would be updated about any developments.

Pictured above: Substation