Electricity consumers in six states across Nigeria will be experiencing blackout for at least four days as the federal government has started servicing the national grid.

The Nigerian Independent System Operator stated that the servicing is necessary to resolve decade-long issues that have caused underperformance, and improve and stabilise the country's electricity supply.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria is coordinating the exercise alongside an upgrade of critical transmission infrastructure.

Blackout hits six states

The first phase of the upgrade is focused on a turn-in-turn-out connection along the 330kV Jos–Bauchi–Gombe line to link the new Bauchi substation

In this phase, six states in the Northeast region have been affected, but it will extend to other states in the coming weeks.

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Independent System Operator, Abdu Mohammed, said in a video statement released on Wednesday that the nationwide maintenance project would soon extend to other regions.

The first six states currently in a blackout include Borno, Taraba, Yobe, Adamawa, Bauchi, and Gombe states.

Mr. Mohammed appealed to the customers and distribution companies in the states to be patient as the TCN carries out the upgrade, promising that electricity supply would improve afterwards.

The blackout started on Tuesday and is expected to last till Saturday to allow TCN complete the project.

Blackout to extend to other states

Mr. Mohammed noted that the project is ongoing and would soon move on to other states when the government extends the upgrades to other regions in the coming months

He explained that the government is executing it in phases to prevent a nationwide disruption:

“The goal is to drastically improve the reliability and availability of electricity supply across Nigeria. This is what we have in place for now, and we believe that at the end of the day, it would be a win-win situation. The outage may be consequential, but a limited supply will be given through alternative lines.”

TCN releases statement on 5-day power outage

Commenting on the project, TCN remarked that the 5-day power outage, which began on Tuesday, was a result the repairs on the transmission line to link the newly built Bauchi 330kV transmission substation to the national grid.

According to PUNCH news, TCN General Manager for Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, assured that the project would be completed by Saturday, June 14, 2025.

The statement noted that bulk electricity supply would be reduced for Jos and Yola discos, and listed affected areas to include Gombe, Savannah, Damaturu/Potiskum, Ashaka, Biu, and Bauchi, with Yola and Jalingo experiencing 100% blackout.

He added that a new transmission tower is being installed to strengthen the power supply in the area. He explained that after the repairs, Jos will be able to supply Bauchi Substation directly whenever the primary 330kV connection from Gombe is unavailable.

TCN earlier carried out maintenance at a substation, affecting power offtake at the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).

Four states hit by blackout as transmission towers collapse

In related news, at least four states suffered major disruptions to their power supply due to the collapse of three transmission towers during a windstorm.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) deployed multiple contractors to the site to fix the problems and reerect the towers.

Legit.ng reported that electricity consumers in the affected states had to depend on alternate plans that the TCN put in place.