Nigeria, Jan. 23 -- Nigeria's national electricity grid collapsed on Friday afternoon, throwing several parts of the country into blackout in the first recorded grid failure of 2026.

Data from the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) showed that power generation dropped to zero megawatts at about 1 p.m., with electricity supply to all 11 distribution companies completely cut off.

The affected distribution companies include Benin, Eko, Enugu, Ikeja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Abuja and Yola, all of which recorded zero load allocation at the time of the collapse.

The latest incident comes barely weeks after a series of grid failures recorded in 2025, the most recent of which occurred on December 29, highlighting per...