This was caused by the breakdown of some National Integrated Power Plants (NIPP) supplying electricity to the national grid, the Federal Ministry of Power explained in a statement on Thursday.

Aaron Artimas, Special Adviser to the Minister on Media and Communications, listed the affected plants to include Sapele, Afam, Olonrunsogo, Omotosho, Ibom, Egbin, Alaoji, and Ihovbor.

He noted that while the Jebba Power Plant was shut down for annual maintenance, the Shiroro Power Plant has water management problems.

Seven other integrated power plants – Geregu, Sepele, Omotosho, Gbarain, Omuku, Paras, and Alaoji – are experiencing gas constraints.

Artimas decried that the condition of the plants has drastically affected power generation, leading to effectively minimising the national grid.

In a series of tweets on Thursday, the Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, regretted the unfortunate situation and offered his apology to all affected Nigerians for the inconveniences the power shortages have caused.

He, however, assured Nigerians that the ministry through the appropriate agencies was working assiduously to rectify the technical problems affecting the plants, as well as making effort to resolve the gas issues to the others.

The minister stated that the national grid would be restored to its previous historic distribution peak of about 5,600MW of electricity achieved earlier in 2021, so as to relieve Nigerians from the current harsh climatic conditions and restore full economic activities.