In Nigeria, 25 of 33 power plants idle as grid output stalls at 1,232 megawatts
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Business Day Nigeria
Illustrative image · Petr Ganaj · Pexels · Licence PexelsOf the 33 Nigerian power plants recorded, 25 were idle on Friday morning, with grid output peaking at 1,232 megawatts. The cuts are worsening in Lagos, Abuja, Ogun, Kwara and Oyo because of a lack of gas supplied to power plants, despite estimated reserves of about 600,000 billion cubic feet.
In Nigeria, 25 of the 33 recorded power plants were idle on Friday morning, with grid output peaking at 1,232.10 megawatts, according to real-time grid data consulted by Business Day. Only eight plants were supplying electricity, while the country has significant gas reserves.
Among the plants in operation, Delta, a gas-fired plant, led with 333 megawatts, followed by the Jebba hydroelectric station (247 megawatts) and Omotosho (182 megawatts). Zungeru supplied 160 megawatts, Egbin 111 megawatts, Geregu 107 megawatts, Olorunsogo NIPP 90.10 megawatts and Trans-Amadi 2 megawatts. The 25 idle plants include Afam III Fast Power, Afam VI, Alaoji NIPP, Azura-Edo IPP, Gbarain NIPP, Geregu NIPP, Ibom Power, Kainji, Shiroro and Sapele.
The disruption is largely attributed to a shortfall in gas supplied to electricity generation companies, while Nigeria is estimated to have about 600,000 billion cubic feet of unproven gas reserves. Households and businesses in Lagos, Abuja, Ogun, Kwara and Oyo have complained on social media of longer and more frequent outages in recent weeks. At the same time, oil producers continue to flare gas at wellheads: according to data from the Nigerian Oil Spill Monitor corroborated by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, companies flared about 323.2 million standard cubic feet of gas in 2025.
