Persistent Grid Collapse Poses Direct Threat to Manufacturers, MSMEs—LCCI

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has decried the frequent grid disturbances, saying they pose a grave threat to the economy, particularly to manufacturers and small businesses.

The LCCI concern came after the second national grid collapse within four days on Tuesday, which plunged the country into widespread outage and disrupted economic activity nationwide. It followed up from the 12 of such occurrences which were recorded in 2025.

Speaking about the issue, the director general of LCCI, Mrs Chinyere Almona, said, “This recurrence underscores deep structural and operational weaknesses in the power transmission system and poses a direct threat to manufacturers, MSMEs, and Nigeria’s overall business environment at a critical moment when the economy is expected to move from crisis management and stabilisation (2023–2025) into a consolidation phase in 2026.”

According to her, based on recent patterns and in the absence of urgent structural fixes, the LCCI estimates that Nigeria could experience tens of grid collapses in 2026 under a ‘business-as-usual’ scenario.

She noted that with immediate reforms, system upgrades, and strict operational discipline, this figure can be reduced to zero incidents, moving the country closer to grid reliability benchmarks required for economic consolidation.

Mrs Almona noted that repeated grid failures impose severe costs on businesses through lost production hours, damaged equipment, increased reliance on self-generation, higher operating expenses, and reduced competitiveness, saying that these disruptions weaken investor confidence, worsen inflationary pressures, and undermine the credibility of economic reforms.

She called on the federal government to take a decisive and transparent position by instituting an independent forensic audit of the national grid covering transmission infrastructure integrity, system protection schemes, operational protocols, and governance of grid management, adding that the findings should form a critical part of a grid performance system reform in the short term.

“Without urgent intervention, recurring grid collapses will continue to undermine the government’s objective of entering a consolidation phase in 2026, while constraining productivity, exports, and job creation. A reliable power supply is foundational to industrialisation, competitiveness, and macroeconomic stability.

“The Chamber reiterates that restoring grid stability must be treated as an economic emergency, not merely a technical issue. At this stage, the causes of these collapses should be well understood, better managed, and effectively prevented. What we are witnessing today is therefore unacceptable and calls for decisive, coordinated action to safeguard national economic performance,” the LCCI DG said.