Nigeria's Major Cities Suffer Blackouts as Power Grid Collapses Again

Abuja: Nigeria's major cities including Abuja, Lagos and Ka suffered blackouts Thursday as country's electricity grid collapsed in tenth such out to hit power system this year.

A “partial disturbance of system” caused latest round of blackouts, Transmission Company of Nigeria said in a statement, without elaborating.

Grid failures are common in Nigeria where power industry suffers from a lack of investment. national grid has collapsed 10 times this year, first time on February 4 and latest previous time on Tuesday.

Africa's most populous country has potential to generate 13,000 megawatts, but can only transmit 4,000 megawatts due to weak infrastructure, transmission company said last year. That amount t eugh for a population of more than 200 million people.

Nigeria gets about 40,000 megawatts from gasoline-powered generators for households and businesses, according to ebayo elabu, Nigeria's minister of power.

Apart from weak infrastructure, armed groups have also sabotd power supplies. Last month, rrn part of country was without power for more than seven days after insurgents vandalised transmission lines, Transmission Company of Nigeria said.

Last year, Nigeria enacted a law that allows states to generate and transmit power – a way of unburdening aging national grid and attracting investors to sector.