Nigeria’s electricity grid has historically struggled with instability, but the pattern over the past 15 years shows a gradual improvement in the frequency of system collapses. The national grid collapsed far more frequently in the early 2010s than it does in 2026. During Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, the grid recorded an annual average of 24.4 collapses, with 42 collapses in 2010 — the highest number in the dataset.
The frequency dropped noticeably during Muhammadu Buhari's administration. Between 2015 and 2022, the grid collapsed an average of 12.8 times a year, roughly half the rate seen in the earlier administration. Under the current administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the annual average has fallen further to 6.7 collapses a year, the lowest across the three administrations compared.
