…Says Nigeria’s power output lags far behind peers
Former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has described Nigeria’s electricity generation of about 5,000 megawatts as grossly inadequate, saying it has continued to undermine productivity and expose deep leadership failures.
In a post on X on Saturday, Obi described the latest grid collapse, which occurred on Friday, as a “national shame”.
“In January 2025, we witnessed the first grid collapse of that year, which was followed by several other collapses. Now in January 2026, the national shame has commenced with yesterday’s collapse,” Obi wrote.
He lamented that Nigeria had, for three consecutive years between 2023 and 2025, ranked among countries with the least access to electricity globally, leaving nearly 100 million citizens without power.
Drawing comparisons with other African countries, Obi said Nigeria’s electricity generation remained disproportionately low despite its population size.
“South Africa, with about 64 million people, generates over 40,000 megawatts. Egypt, with about 115 million people, also generates over 40,000 megawatts, while Algeria produces over 50,000 megawatts. Nigeria, with over 240 million people, produces just about 5,000 megawatts,” he stated.
Obi attributed the crisis to persistent leadership failures, stressing that the power sector required competent and committed leadership to function effectively. He urged Nigerians to prioritise competence and empathy in leadership choices ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Meanwhile, Vanguard had reported on Friday that Nigeria was plunged into widespread darkness following the collapse of the national electricity grid, the first such incident in 2026.
The system failure occurred at about 1 pm, when load allocation to all electricity distribution companies (DisCos) dropped to zero. Data obtained from the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) showed that national power generation fell to zero megawatts, resulting in a total blackout across the country.
In a statement issued on Friday, NISO, an arm of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), said the collapse was linked to the simultaneous tripping of multiple 330kV transmission lines, along with the disconnection of some grid-connected generating units.
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