by Magnus Onyibe
On March 6, 2025, chaos erupted at the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (DISCO) in Lagos when a group of Nigerian Air Force personnel stormed the premises. Their reason? The power supply to their base had been disconnected. The attack, reminiscent of a military-style raid, left DISCO staff in panic and confusion.
This incident occurred at a time when Nigerians were still processing the news that the country’s power generation had increased from an embarrassingly low 4,000 megawatts-woefully inadequate for a nation of over 200 million people to 5,800 megawatts. Coincidentally, following the assault on the Ikeja DISCO, the national electricity grid suffered yet another collapse on March 7, 2025, plunging the nation into darkness.
Some conspiracy theorists speculate that the grid failure may have been an act of silent protest by electricity workers, sympathizing with their assaulted colleagues. Others point to the alarming pattern: The March 7 collapse was the third nationwide blackout in just three months, with the previous one occurring on February 12. A look at historical data paints an even grimmer picture – Nigeria experienced 12 system failures last year, averaging one per month, while over the past decade, the grid has collapsed more than 100 times, often leaving the country without power for hours or even days.
The Root Cause of Nigeria’s Power Crisis
At the heart of this crisis lies an aging electricity infrastructure inherited from the colonial era, now severely outdated. To illustrate the severity of the situation, consider this analogy:
A friend of mine owned a battered Volkswagen Beetle while studying at the University of Benin. The car was so old and unreliable that it wouldn’t start with just the turn of the key – it needed to be pushed to get moving. Aware of this, my friend always parked on a slope, ensuring he could start the car without help. This strategy allowed him to keep using the car, even though it was far from ideal. However, if an unsuspecting driver parked it on flat ground, they would be stranded without assistance.
Nigeria’s power system is like that Volkswagen Beetle – an outdated, fragile infrastructure barely kept running by experienced operators who know its weaknesses. For decades, these professionals have managed to sustain the grid at a suboptimal level, much like my friend kept his car running. However, when a “new driver” – in this case, the Minister of Power, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu – attempts to overload the system without addressing its weaknesses, the result is frequent, catastrophic failures. Experts have warned that the transmission infrastructure is too fragile to handle increased power loads, yet these warnings have been ignored, leading to repeated grid collapses.
A Century of Neglect
Nigeria’s electricity system has suffered from a lack of investment, maintenance, and modernization since colonial times. Infrastructure that should be displayed in a museum as a relic of the past remains the backbone of the nation’s power supply. For nearly a century, successive governments have failed to replace this antiquated system, leaving Nigeria trapped in a cycle of power shortages and economic stagnation.
If Nigeria is to escape this crisis, urgent reforms and large-scale investments in modern electricity infrastructure are needed. Without these changes, the country will remain stuck with a failing system – much like a driver trying to start a broken-down car on level ground, hoping for a miracle.
Why Nigeria’s Power Supply Remains Unstable 65 Years After Independence
More than six decades after gaining independence, Nigeria continues to struggle with an unreliable power supply, largely due to its outdated electricity infrastructure. The country’s national grid dates back to the colonial era, with its foundations laid as early as 1914, when the northern and southern protectorates were amalgamated. Despite the passage of time, the power sector has seen little progress, particularly in the transmission segment, which remains in a state of disrepair.
The reason for this is rooted in the flawed privatization of the power sector. While the generation (GENCOs) and distribution (DISCOs) segments were transferred to private ownership, the transmission network remained under government control through the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). As a result, while private investors have upgraded parts of the generation and distribution infrastructure, the transmission system has remained stagnant due to bureaucratic inefficiencies and lack of investment.
