Lagos, Sept. 14, 2023 – Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies reported a total system collapse on Thursday after a fire on a major transmission line, causing widespread blackouts across Africa’s biggest economy, before power slowly started to return.
Adebayo Adelabu, the Minister for Power, confirmed that fire had caused an explosion on a transmission line connecting the Kainji and Jebba power plants in north central Niger state, tripping the grid.
“The fire has been fully arrested and over half of the connections are now up and the rest will be fully restored in no time,” Adelabu said in a statement.
Power generation fell to zero in the early hours, but had risen to 1,341 Megawatts (MW) by 1400 GMT, still well below the daily average of 4,100 MW, data from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) showed.
