Nigeria’s electricity generation plunged by more than 3,300 megawatts on Monday afternoon, cutting supply to parts of Lagos, Ogun and Abuja as most power stations listed on the national grid stopped producing electricity.
Data from the Nigerian Independent System Operator’s monitoring portal showed total grid generation at about 3,840 megawatts at 7am on 19 October before a sharp fall began at about 12.40pm. By 1pm, output had dropped to 476.70 megawatts, a decline of 3,363.30 megawatts, or 87.59 per cent, within six hours.
The operator said the incident was not a total collapse of the national grid and maintained that no system-wide disturbance had occurred. The distinction did little to prevent outages for consumers as the volume of electricity available to distribution companies fell sharply.
The grid dashboard showed that only a small number of generating stations were supplying power at the lowest point. Odukpani NIPP, Omotosho and Sapele were among the plants still recording output, while Egbin, Jebba, Shiroro and Kainji were among the major stations displaying zero generation. By 1.23pm, real-time output remained at about 480 megawatts, with five generating companies producing electricity.
Generation had risen to 653.60 megawatts by 2pm, but 27 of the 33 power plants displayed on the grid dashboard were still recording no output. Delta contributed 196 megawatts, Odukpani NIPP supplied 187.90 megawatts, Omotosho produced 157.50 megawatts and Omotosho NIPP generated 84.30 megawatts. Sapele supplied 25.10 megawatts, while Trans-Amadi contributed 2.80 megawatts.
Ikeja Electric confirmed that customers across its network were receiving fewer hours of electricity because of a shortfall in the power allocated from the national grid. The company said it was engaging relevant stakeholders and would distribute the reduced supply available to it as efficiently and equitably as possible.
“We wish to inform customers across Ikeja Electric network that the reduced hours of electricity supply is due to a shortfall in the amount of power currently allocated to our network from the national grid,” the distribution company said in its public notice.
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company separately reported a technical fault affecting parts of the Federal Capital Territory. The available notices did not establish a single cause for all the disruptions, while the system operator’s rejection of a grid-collapse description left the sharp fall classified as a major generation and supply disturbance.
The scale of Monday’s decline placed immediate pressure on homes and businesses that depend on public electricity or must meet the cost of running petrol and diesel generators when supply fails. It also followed earlier warnings from distribution companies about inadequate allocations, including an Ikeja Electric notice on 5 October that also blamed reduced supply hours on a grid shortfall.
Official performance records show that the power system was already operating far below its installed generation capacity before Monday’s disruption. The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission reported in its April 2026 operational factsheet that an average of 4,286 megawatts was available for dispatch out of installed capacity of 13,625 megawatts, giving a plant availability factor of 31 per cent.
The regulator’s August factsheet said about 4,102 megawatts of available capacity was utilised on average during that month. Those figures underline the limited margin within which the grid normally operates, even when there is no sudden loss of output from major stations.
The Federal Government has said it is investing in grid stabilisation, while the system operator has been developing a new control centre in Osogbo to improve monitoring. Neither institution had announced, by early Monday evening, when normal generation would be fully restored or provided a detailed public account of why so many plants simultaneously recorded zero output.
Monday’s readings showed partial improvement after the 1pm low, but generation at 2pm remained less than one-fifth of the 3,840 megawatts recorded at 7am. Distribution companies said supply hours would remain constrained by the amount of electricity released to their networks.
