Claim: Chief Adebayo Adelabu, Minister of Power, stated that there was only one grid disturbance in 2025 compared to twelve in 2024.

Verdict:

❌ Misleading. Trusted media reports and fact-checking organisations have documented at least three separate grid disturbances in 2025, which is inconsistent with the minister’s statement.

Background

During the South-West Economic and Political Affairs Committee (SWEPAC) Stakeholders’ Forum held in Akure, Ondo State, the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, formally presented his ministry’s performance report as part of the Renewed Hope Agenda.

Leaders and governors from the South-West gathered at the forum to discuss regional development, the transfer of power, and assess how President Bola Tinubu’s administration is performing.

In his presentation, Adelabu noted key power sector achievements, including:

• A new peak electricity generation of 5,801.44 MW
• The mobilisation of ₦700 billion from FAAC to deploy 1.1 million meters by the end of 2025 under the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI)
• The deployment of mobile substations to enhance transmission efficiency under the Siemens Project

To underscore these reforms, the minister stated that “only one instance of grid disturbance was recorded in 2025, compared to twelve in 2024.”

This statement drew attention because a similar claim by the same minister was previously rated false, and because it raises important questions about the actual performance of Nigeria’s power grid.

Verification

The NDRFactCheck review identified several confirmed instances of grid disturbances occurring in 2025.

• February 12, 2025:
  ThisDay reported the first major grid disturbance, which plunged homes and businesses into darkness as generation dropped from over 4,000 MW to 1,334.91 MW after a transmission line tripped off around 11 a.m.
• March 2025:
  The Guardian confirmed another national grid disturbance.
  Around the same period, a credible fact-checking platform, DUBAWA, verified evidence of at least two grid collapses in 2025.
• September 5, 2025:
  Ikeja Electric and Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) both reported another incident in an X (Twitter) post cited by Nairametrics, marking the third disturbance in eight months.

While the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) stated on February 8, 2025, that “no system collapse has occurred this year” as of that date, TCN and the ministry often differentiate between “full system collapse” and “partial disturbances” or “line tripping.”
The minister’s “one disturbance” claim may rely on this narrow definition, whereas independent reports capture all significant outages.

Conclusion

Available evidence indicates that there were at least three confirmed grid disturbances between February and September 2025. Accordingly, the minister’s statement that only one grid disturbance occurred in 2025 does not accurately reflect the documented data and is therefore misleading.

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