January 25, (THEWILL) — The persistence of energy instability in Nigeria continues to act as a significant drag on the nation’s collective potential. On Friday, 23 January 2026, the national grid suffered a total collapse for the first time in the new year, plunging the entire country into darkness as power generation fell to zero megawatts in the early afternoon. This failure follows a pattern of extreme instability throughout the previous year, during which the national grid recorded multiple instances of total or partial collapse. These frequent disruptions highlight a systemic failure that has resisted every attempt at reform for decades. My experiences in the 80s during my teenage years living in the then Bendel State still live in my head till date. The electricity sector remains a heavy burden that prevents industrial growth and stifles the daily life of every citizen, whilst the reliability of the grid is now so low that the term “national grid” has become synonymous with unpredictability and economic waste.
The state of the power sector in Nigeria is often described as an albatross and the comparison is fitting because the problem is a self-imposed weight that remains tied to the nation’s progress. Without a steady supply of electricity, no modern economy can function effectively. The repeated failures of the national grid mean that homes, hospitals and factories are forced to seek expensive and wasteful alternative energy sources and the most striking evidence of this lack of trust in the central system comes from the highest levels of government. Even the federal administration has started to move away from the national grid to meet its own energy needs. In the 2025 national budget, the government allocated N10 billion for the installation of a solar mini-grid system at the Presidential Villa, a clear signal that the seat of power could no longer rely on the same infrastructure that it manages for the rest of the country.
The trend of moving away from the grid has continued into the 2026 fiscal year. The latest budget proposal includes another N7 billion for the same solar power project at the State House, bringing the cumulative investment over two years to N17 billion. This shows a determined effort to insulate the presidency from the frequent blackouts that affect the rest of the nation, yet it is difficult to justify why the government is spending billions of naira on private solar energy for its offices whilst simultaneously spending trillions on the national power sector with very little to show for the effort. To make matters worse, the 2026 budget also earmarks approximately N1.989 billion for the fuelling and maintenance of generators at the State House. This dual spending on solar technology and fossil fuel generators suggests that even the government does not expect the national grid to become reliable in the near future.
The fiscal cost of maintaining this broken system is enormous. Between 2024 and 2026, the government has spent vast sums of money on electricity subsidies and emergency interventions, yet despite these payments, the total amount of power available to the public has rarely exceeded 5,000 megawatts. For a country with over 200 million people, this amount is entirely insufficient and the cost of this inefficiency falls most heavily on the manufacturing and industrial sector. Large-scale industrial producers in Nigeria are forced to operate as their own utility companies, investing in massive diesel generators and maintaining complex energy infrastructure just to keep their machines running. This added expense makes Nigerian goods far more expensive than those produced in other countries and it is a fundamental truth that a nation cannot industrialise when its energy costs are among the highest in the world.
The human impact of the power crisis is equally severe. Small business owners such as barbers, tailors and food vendors spend a large portion of their daily earnings on petrol for small generators and when the price of fuel rises, many of these businesses are forced to close their doors. In the healthcare sector, the consequences are a matter of life and death. Many public hospitals lack the funds to run generators for 24 hours a day, which means that life-saving equipment and refrigerators for vaccines often lose power, putting the lives of patients at risk. The lack of electricity also affects education, as students are unable to study at night or use digital tools that are common in other parts of the world. The constant darkness is not just an inconvenience but a social crisis that limits the opportunities available to the next generation.
Whilst Nigeria struggles with these basic issues, other nations on the continent have demonstrated that it is possible to build a stable and efficient power sector. Egypt provides a compelling example of rapid transformation. In less than a decade, Egypt moved from a state of frequent blackouts to a state of significant energy surplus through government investment in large-scale power plants and modernisation of its transmission network. Today, Egypt has an installed capacity of approximately 60,000 megawatts, nearly 12 times the amount of power available in Nigeria, despite Egypt having a much smaller population. This success was achieved through a clear national strategy and a commitment to completing infrastructure projects on time, proving that the technical problems of power generation and distribution can be solved with the right political will and financial discipline.
Morocco is another African nation that has made significant progress in energy security. The Moroccan government focused on diversifying its energy mix by investing heavily in renewable sources and by mid-2025, renewable energy accounted for over 45 per cent of the total installed power capacity in Morocco. This shift has allowed the country to reduce its dependence on imported fuels and provide a stable supply of electricity to its citizens. Morocco has even reached a point where it can export electricity to Europe through subsea cables to Spain, a result of long-term planning and a focus on decentralised energy production. These examples from Egypt and Morocco prove that the power challenges in Nigeria are not a result of a lack of natural resources but a failure of management and implementation.
The technical reasons for the repeated collapses of the Nigerian grid are well documented by engineers and energy experts. The transmission lines are old and poorly maintained, making them vulnerable to disturbances and when one part of the system fails, it often triggers a collapse of the entire network because there is no adequate backup system. The distribution companies also face challenges in collecting payments from consumers, which prevents them from investing in better equipment. This cycle of debt and decay has created a system where nobody is held accountable for the constant failures, whilst the government continues to pour money into the sector only to see it disappear into a void of bureaucracy and corruption.
The decision of the current administration to turn to solar power for the State House is a logical choice for personal security, but it is a worrying sign for national policy. If the leaders of the country can buy their way out of the darkness, they may lose the urgency required to fix the system for everyone else. The N17 billion spent on solar energy for the Presidential Villa could have funded many local mini-grid projects in rural communities, yet instead it is being used to create a small island of reliability in a sea of instability. The reliance on private generators and solar systems by the wealthy and powerful means that the people with the most influence over policy are the least affected by the failure of public infrastructure.
The only way forward for Nigeria is a complete decentralisation of the power sector. The recent laws that allow state governments to generate and distribute their own electricity are a positive step, but they must be followed by real investment and action. Moving away from a single national grid would reduce the risk of countrywide blackouts and allow states to use the resources they have, whether it is solar in the north or gas in the south. The current model of a central grid that fails every few weeks is no longer sustainable, and the nation needs a system that is robust, transparent and capable of supporting a modern industrial economy. The economic cost of the grid collapse on 23 January will be measured in lost hours of work and wasted materials, whilst the reputational cost is also significant, as foreign investors are unlikely to put their money into a country where the lights can go out at any moment. Nigeria cannot achieve its goals of poverty reduction and economic diversification without solving the power problem. The albatross of energy instability must be removed to allow the nation to rise and the success of Egypt and Morocco shows that the task is possible. It requires a move away from temporary fixes and towards a permanent reconstruction of the energy landscape, led by a government committed not just to installing solar panels on its own roofs, but to ensuring that every home and factory in the nation has access to the power it needs to succeed.
President Bola Tinubu promised to significantly cure the country’s embarrassing electricity problem. I pray he can actualise this policy commitment sooner than later.
