Many Nigerians marked Christmas Day without electricity as nationwide outages persisted despite government assurances that power would improve within 48 hours. The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, had blamed the worsening supply on an explosion along the Escravos–Lagos Gas Pipeline, which disrupted gas flow to several power plants.
In Lagos and neighbouring Ogun State, residents said they had endured weeks of poor supply and were relying heavily on generators.
In Egbeda and Orile, residents said they struggled with “terrible” power for more than three weeks and used generator to preserve food.
The situation is not better in In Akoka and other Band A areas, where customers are expected to have at least 20 hours of power daily. Respondent said they got less than an average of one hour daily.
In a report by a national newspaper, residents of communities in Ogun and Rivers states reported similar experiences. Residents of Ijagba in Lafenwa said the festive period had been marked by extended blackouts, while some neighbourhoods in Port Harcourt complained that supply from the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company had deteriorated sharply. “They bring it and take it immediately,” one resident said.
In the Federal Capital Territory, consumers said supplies were erratic and often delivered at very low voltage. Grid capacity has dropped to about 3,000 megawatts — far below the 6,000MW target repeatedly promised by the government.
Last Tuesday, generation fell to 2,652MW despite the country having an installed capacity of 13,625MW. Data from NERC and the Nigerian Independent System Operator showed that more than 60 per cent of installed generation remained unavailable, with several grid-connected power plants producing no output at all.
Abuja Disco received the highest load allocation at 496MW, followed by Ikeja (489MW) and Eko (417MW). Eleven other DisCos received between 94MW and 388MW. Records for December also showed at least 15 power plants repeatedly producing zero electricity, including Alaoji NIPP, Olorunsogo NIPP, Rivers IPP, Sapele Steam and Ihovbor NIPP. Most of these plants are gas-fired and were affected by the pipeline disruption.
The System Operator confirmed that the pipeline explosion triggered the nationwide drop in supply. It said the Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company was repairing the damaged line and had assured that full operations would resume within 24 to 48 hours.
However, many consumers remain doubtful, noting that previous assurances of improved supply have not materialised.
