ENERGY SPECIALIST ILEDARE OUTLINES SOLUTIONS TO NIGERIA’S FREQUENT NATIONAL GRID BREAKDOWNS
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By: Fasasi Hammad
Professor Emeritus of Petroleum Economics and energy expert, Wumi Iledare, has identified sustained infrastructure investment and the decentralization of Nigeria’s electricity market as the lasting solution to the country’s persistent national grid collapses.
Iledare made this known in an interview on Sunday, following the latest disturbance on the National Grid on Friday, January 23, 2026, which plunged Africa’s most populous nation into a nationwide blackout.
Although power supply was restored hours later, the National Grid has collapsed at least 16 times within the last two years, underscoring deep-seated challenges within Nigeria’s power sector.
Reacting to the incident, Iledare described the repeated grid failures as a structural issue rather than an operational mishap.
“Nigeria’s recurring grid collapse is a structural problem, not an operational accident.
The real solution begins with serious infrastructure investment, followed by decentralization of power supply and comprehensive electricity market restructuring. A decentralized market would support an optimal energy mix, reduce systemic risk, and ensure that only surplus power flows through the national grid,” he said.
The energy expert also expressed skepticism over the likelihood of meaningful compensation for Band A electricity consumers affected by recent grid collapses, describing the current tariff framework as weak and poorly designed.
According to him, the Band A pricing system lacks solid theoretical and regulatory foundations, noting that it emerged largely as an ad hoc response to longstanding inefficiencies in the power sector.
Iledare argued that billing consumers based on the quality and duration of electricity supply—without transparent and verifiable measurements—undermines fairness and credibility in the market.
“On Band A pricing, the situation is unfortunate. The band-based tariff has weak theoretical grounding and is largely an ad hoc response to sectoral inefficiencies,” he said.
He further noted that expectations of compensation under the current regulatory framework are unrealistic, citing weak enforcement mechanisms that limit accountability among electricity distribution companies (DisCos).
“In practical terms, meaningful consumer compensation remains unlikely. For Band A customers, the most realistic avenue for redress may be a class action against the DisCos to enforce service-level accountability,” Iledare stated.
The professor emphasized that Nigeria’s electricity crisis cannot be resolved through tariff adjustments alone, stressing the need for comprehensive structural reforms.
“Fix the structure, decentralize the market, invest in infrastructure, and restore regulatory discipline. Pricing gimmicks alone will not solve Nigeria’s power problem,” he concluded.
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