TCN Announces Blackout Across Five Northern States After Grid Fault

ABUJA — The Transmission Company of Nigeria has announced a major blackout affecting five northern Nigerian states and part of Niger Republic. Daily Post reported the disruption on Monday. TCN said a transmission fault on a key high-voltage line triggered the cascading outage.

The affected states include Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, and part of Jigawa. Officials said engineers have been deployed to locate and repair the fault. TCN said restoration timelines depend on the scope of the damage and will be communicated as assessments are completed.

TCN spokesperson Ndidi Mbah said the fault occurred in the early hours of Monday morning. She said the company is working urgently with the grid system operators and electricity distribution companies in the affected states to restore supply as quickly as possible.

A Chronic Problem

Grid collapses and localised outages have been recurring crises in Nigeria for years. The transmission infrastructure, much of it aging and inadequately maintained, is a chronic weak link in the power sector chain. Even when generation improves, transmission failures can plunge large areas into darkness.

The TCN has received government funding for grid expansion and upgrading. However, the pace of improvement has been too slow to match demand growth. Several northern states that rely entirely on the national grid have no alternative when the transmission line fails.

Residents and businesses in the five affected states described the disruption as deeply frustrating. Many said they had hoped the long Sallah and Democracy Day holiday would end with a stable return of power. Instead, Monday opened with a blackout covering some of Nigeria’s most economically vulnerable communities.