The former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has acknowledged the error in his comment regarding the purported national power grid collapse.
On Saturday, December 11, 2025, social media was awash with posts suggesting that the power grid had collapsed yet again.
Posts from netizens, who reported power outages in their various locations simultaneously, mostly in Lagos State, learnt credence to the suspicion.
Subsequently, some news outlets reported a nationwide blackout due to the national grid collapse, even though none of the reports quoted any official source.
Acting on the media reports, Obi posted on his X account a stern criticism of the government regarding the state of power generation and supply in the country.
The Labour Party chieftain said the nation has failed to make any significant progress in the power sector despite investing huge sums of money in the previous year.
"Most of last year, we faced recurrent national grid collapses. That occurred about 12 times in the year.
“The untold setback and hardship it brought on households and businesses was immeasurable.
“Further reports showed that Nigeria has borrowed over $3.23 billion in the last four years to fix its electricity problems, and yet the country cannot produce more than about 4,500 megawatts of power for the people.
“Instead of making significant progress, our recurrent occurrences of grid collapse have continued to characterise our power sector.
"One then wonders where all the funds borrowed for the power sector have gone into," he wrote.
National grid collapse is now a recurring decimal.
— Peter Obi (@PeterObi) January 11, 2025
I have just read the reports of the collapse of our national grid, just 11 days into the new year.
Most of last year, we faced recurrent national grid collapses. That occurred about 12 times in the year.
The untold setback…
TCN debunks power grid collapse
However, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) later denied reports of a national grid collapse on Saturday, calling the claims inaccurate.
In a statement by its General Manager of Public Affairs, Mrs Ndidi Mbah, TCN explained that at approximately 1:41 p.m. on Saturday, the Osogbo-Ihovour line tripped, followed by the tripping of the Benin-Omotosho line.
According to her, the incidents only affected bulk power supply to the Lagos area, adding that just before the tripping, total generation on the grid was 4,335.63 Megawatts (MW) and after the trippings, generation dropped to 2,573.23 MW, which indicated the grid did not experience a collapse.
Obi owns up to error
In a follow-up post, Obi explained that his earlier erroneous comment on the national power grid was based on reports from media platforms, commending the TCN for prompt clarification.
"Following my earlier message regarding the alleged collapse of the National Grid, which was based on reports from reputable media platforms, I have since learned that there was no such collapse.
"Instead, the incident involved the tripping of the Osogbo-Ihovbor and Benin-Omotosho lines, which affected the Lagos axis.
"I appreciate the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) for their prompt clarification on the matter.
"I sincerely hope we will prioritise enhancing our infrastructure in the power sector and remain committed to improving power generation to meet the growing needs of over 200 million Nigerians," he wrote.