Former Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi has condemned the latest collapse of Nigeria’s national electricity grid, calling it a continuation of a deepening national crisis that has persisted for years.
The national grid reportedly failed on Friday, January 23, with electricity generation plunging from above 4,500 megawatts to just 24 MW around 1:30 pm, leaving millions of households and businesses in darkness.
All 23 power plants connected to the grid reportedly lost output during the outage, resulting in zero allocations to the country’s 11 distribution companies.
Obi described the January 2026 collapse as a repeat of similar events in January 2025, when the grid first failed and was followed by a series of outages throughout the year.
“In January 2025, we witnessed the first grid collapse of that year, which was followed by several others.
”Now in January 2026, the national shame has commenced with Saturday’s collapse,” he said in a statement posted on X titled “2026: The Collapse Continues.”
The former Anambra State governor highlighted Nigeria’s persistent electricity deficit, noting that the nation has ranked at the bottom globally for three consecutive years, leaving nearly 100 million citizens without access to power.
Comparing Nigeria’s situation with other African nations, Obi pointed out stark disparities. South Africa, with a population of 64 million, generates over 40,000 MW, while Egypt, with 115 million people, also produces over 40,000 MW. Algeria, with 48 million citizens, generates more than 50,000 MW.
Meanwhile, Nigeria, home to over 240 million people, produces barely 5,000 MW, a figure he described as “absurdly low” and a severe constraint on national productivity.
Obi attributed the crisis to governance failures, stressing the need for competent leadership to manage the sector effectively.
“This power crisis is a direct result of continuous leadership failures.
”The power sector is critical and requires competent and committed leadership to thrive,” he said.
Looking ahead to the 2027 general elections, Obi urged Nigerians to prioritise competence and empathy in their leadership choices.
“It is time to elect individuals with the capacity and dedication necessary to initiate a significant turnaround for our nation.
”Anything less is unacceptable,” he added.
