Nigeria blackout illustration

It was a hot Tuesday night in Lagos when the fan stopped spinning. A barber in Ojuelegba paused mid-fade, staring helplessly at his silent clippers. In Yaba, a group of students leaned over flickering candles, trying to force calculus into tired brains. Somewhere in Ikorodu, a mother whispered to her restless child, fanning him against the heat as the darkness swallowed every corner of the room. Then came the familiar chorus across WhatsApp groups and X timelines: “National grid don collapse again.”

On September 10, 2025, Nigeria’s electricity grid failed once more, plunging major cities into hours of blackouts. The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) confirmed partial restoration through hydro plants, but by then, countless businesses had shut their doors, hospitals had powered up expensive generators, and millions had returned to the old rhythm of living by torchlight and prayer.

The Numbers Behind the Darkness

This collapse was not an isolated case. Nigeria experiences dozens of grid failures every year, leaving its people at the mercy of an unstable system. According to the World Bank, unreliable power costs Nigeria about $29 billion annually in lost productivity. Beyond that, over 80 million Nigerians, almost 40 percent of the population, have no access to the national grid at all. For them, power is not a right, it is a luxury.

Everyday Nigerians, Everyday Struggles

“I cannot count how many customers I’ve lost,” says Kunle, a barber who relies on generators to keep his shop alive. “Fuel is expensive, clippers spoil fast, and NEPA is nowhere to be found. Sometimes I just close shop and go home.”

For students, the situation feels just as heavy. “You can’t plan your life around light,” jokes Ngozi, a final-year student at UNILAG. “One day you’re writing an assignment online, the next day the Wi-Fi is gone and the battery is dead. You just dey improvise.”

Hospitals across Lagos and Abuja constantly depend on diesel to keep their wards running. In some rural clinics, doctors operate with rechargeable lamps and the light from their phones. The power crisis is not just an inconvenience, it is a matter of survival.

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Why the Grid Keeps Failing

Experts point to a deadly mix of old infrastructure, gas shortages, corruption, and vandalism of transmission lines. Many power plants operate far below capacity. Promises of reforms by successive governments have barely scratched the surface, and the gap between what Nigeria generates and what its people need keeps widening.

How Nigerians Cope

Generators have become the unofficial national anthem. From the buzzing “I better pass my neighbor” in street corners to diesel-guzzling monsters in estates, every home or business has a backup plan. In recent years, solar panels and inverters have become more popular among the middle class, though the high cost keeps them out of reach for many. Rural communities are experimenting with small mini-grids, a sign that people are learning to survive without waiting for miracles from Abuja.

Can There Be Light?

Government officials continue to promise change. The TCN insists it is working on strengthening the grid, while investors push for renewable energy. Startups are stepping in with pay-as-you-go solar kits and community-based solutions. But for the average Nigerian, these solutions still feel far away from their daily reality.

The Human Reflection

At the end of the day, the power crisis is not just about megawatts and policy papers. It is about human dreams interrupted in the dark. As Kunle the barber puts it, “We don’t even pray for NEPA anymore. We just pray that our generator doesn’t fail.”

Until Nigeria can keep its lights on, too many of its people will keep burning out in the dark.