Written by
Ishioma Appiah-Yeboah
Electricity supply across Lagos and surrounding areas was disrupted on Thursday morning after a voltage instability on the national grid triggered a cascade of transmission faults, knocking out power to Nigeria’s commercial hub.
According to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in a statement signed by the General Manager public affairs Ndidi Mbah, the disturbance occurred at about 8:19 a.m., when a sudden voltage fluctuation spread through the Lagos transmission corridor, forcing some generating stations offline and causing critical transmission lines to trip.
The incident resulted in widespread power outages across Lagos and neighbouring communities.
In a bid to prevent a broader grid collapse, the National Control Centre immediately directed several power generation companies to reduce output, helping to stabilize grid frequency and contain the disruption.
As restoration efforts intensified, the Minister of Power, Chief Joseph Tegbe, convened an emergency meeting with top officials of the TCN and the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) to coordinate rapid intervention measures.
In a major breakthrough, TCN announced that the Benin–Egbin 330kV transmission line, one of the key lines affected during the disturbance, has already been restored and is now transmitting bulk electricity to the Lagos corridor.
However, engineers are still battling faults on the Benin–Omotoso 330kV transmission line, another critical power route feeding the Lagos complex. Technical teams from the Benin and Omotoso regions have been deployed and are working round the clock to return the line to service.
TCN however apologized for the inconvenience caused to residents, businesses and other electricity consumers affected by the outage, assuring the public that every available resource is being deployed to restore full power transmission as quickly as possible.
The company reiterated its commitment to strengthening the national grid and reducing the likelihood of similar incidents in the future.
Consequently, consumers have been urged to remain patient as repair works continue, with TCN promising to provide updates as progress is made toward full restoration.