Christmas in Darkness: Nationwide Power Drop Leaves Millions of Nigerians Without Electricity

Many Nigerians across the country marked this year’s Christmas without electricity following a nationwide drop in power supply from the national grid.

The Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO), which oversees grid operations, had earlier attributed the disruption to an explosion on the Escravos–Lagos Gas Pipeline in Delta State. The pipeline is owned by the Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company (NGPTC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

In an update released late Wednesday, NISO assured Nigerians that power supply would return to normal “soon,” stating that repair works on the damaged gas pipeline were nearing completion.

However, findings by DAILY POST on Christmas Day revealed that the outage persisted across most parts of the country, leaving millions of households and businesses in darkness during the festive period.

The development further underscores the long-standing challenges facing Nigeria’s power sector, more than a decade after its privatization in November 2013.

According to data released by NISO on Wednesday, the country’s eleven electricity distribution companies (Discos) received a total of 3,272 megawatts from the national grid for distribution to a population of over 250 million people. The shortfall has forced Discos to resort to load shedding and, in many areas, complete outages.

Nigeria’s electricity generation capacity has remained largely stagnant between 3,000 and 5,000 megawatts over the past 12 years, despite repeated reform promises.

In 2024, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, pledged that Nigeria would attain a generation capacity of 6,000 megawatts by the end of December 2025.

Reacting to the latest outage, the National President of the Nigeria Consumer Protection Network, Kunle Olubiyo, said the recurring crisis reflects deep-rooted structural failures in the power sector.

“You cannot build something on nothing,” Olubiyo said in an interview with DAILY POST. “If you don’t get the processes and systems right, the outcome is what Nigerians are experiencing today. We did not get it right, both before and after the privatization of the power sector.”

As Nigerians await the restoration of electricity, the Christmas blackout has once again reignited debates over the effectiveness of power sector reforms and the country’s long-delayed quest for stable electricity supply.