The network has collapsed at least four times this year, which authorities attribute to technical problems. Last month, workers at the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) went on strike and temporarily shut down the network.
The power distribution companies, known as Discos, said the outage occurred earlier in the day on Monday and that they were working with TCN to restore supply. They did not specify the cause of the breakdown.
Nigeria has an installed capacity of 12,500 megawatts but produces only a quarter of that power, leaving many Nigerians and businesses dependent on diesel-powered generators. Diesel prices have skyrocketed since the start of the year.
The country’s cluttered electricity grid, and its precarious energy supply, is often cited by businesses as a key problem hampering the growth of Africa’s most populous country.