Economic activities across Rivers, Bayelsa and Imo states were disrupted on Tuesday after a major transmission fault plunged large parts of the three states into total blackout, raising fresh concerns over the vulnerability of Nigeria’s power infrastructure and its impact on businesses.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) confirmed that a forced outage on its Alaoji 132-kilovolt transmission line cut off bulk electricity supply to key commercial and residential centres in the affected states.
In a statement issued by its spokesperson, Mrs Ndidi Mbah, TCN said the outage occurred in the early hours of Tuesday following an earth fault and distance protection failure on the transmission line.
The disruption left the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) unable to receive and distribute electricity to customers in Owerri, Yenagoa and Ahoada, effectively plunging thousands of homes, offices, hospitals, schools and businesses into darkness.
The development is expected to compound operational challenges for businesses already grappling with rising energy costs, inflation and economic uncertainties.
Small and medium-scale enterprises, many of which depend on public power supply to remain competitive, are likely to bear the brunt of the outage as operators resort to expensive diesel and petrol generators to keep their businesses running.
Industry observers warn that prolonged blackouts could lead to production losses, disruption of commercial transactions, damage to sensitive equipment and increased operating costs for manufacturers, traders and service providers.
For residents, the outage translates into another round of hardship, with concerns over food preservation, water supply, communication services and healthcare delivery in areas heavily dependent on electricity.
TCN said its engineers had commenced emergency repairs to restore the line and resume normal bulk power supply as quickly as possible.
“The Transmission Company of Nigeria wishes to inform the public that there was a forced outage on the Alaoji 132kV Transmission Line at about 3:59am today, Tuesday, June 23, 2026, due to an earth fault and distance protection failure,” the statement said.
According to the company, maintenance crews were immediately deployed to the affected line to rectify the fault and restore electricity supply to the impacted areas.
While apologising to customers for the inconvenience, TCN assured residents and businesses that efforts were underway to resolve the technical issues and restore normal service.
The latest outage once again highlights the persistent challenges confronting Nigeria’s electricity sector, where transmission failures and infrastructure weaknesses continue to undermine economic productivity and frustrate consumers despite repeated reforms and investments in the industry.
