Beyond The National Grid: Is Aba Proving Nigeria’s Power System Is Obsolete

The lights may be back on and the familiar “Up NEPA” cheers may have returned, but it’s worth asking why Nigerians still celebrate what should be a basic service. While much of the country waited through another grid collapse, Aba remained powered. That contrast exposes a deeper issue: a national system that treats steady electricity as a rare event, versus a local solution that planned for reliability and delivered it.

Aba’s experience shifts the conversation from temporary faults to structural failure. Each grid collapse costs the country billions and disrupts lives, yet some states still depend entirely on a fragile central network. Aba has shown that building resilient, localized power systems can protect economies and daily life. The real question now is whether the national grid has become a liability and how long the rest of the country will wait to follow Aba’s lead.