Nigeria narrowly avoided a nationwide blackout on Thursday after electricity workers suspended their planned strike following a late-night agreement with the Federal Government.

The Ministry of Power, represented by senior officials, met with leaders of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC). After hours of negotiations, the parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that led to the suspension of the industrial action.

According to the MoU, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and the Nigerian System Operator (NISO) are to meet and evaluate the financial implications of a pending committee report and draft an implementation plan. This plan will be reviewed with the unions and presented to the Minister of Power by early October.

Other resolutions reached include:

No employee will be victimised for participating in the strike.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) will fast-track the review of tariffs for TCN and NISO to aid implementation of the report.

Further meetings will be held between the unions, TCN, and NISO to resolve outstanding issues.

The electricity unions agreed to suspend the strike to allow these resolutions to take effect, averting a total shutdown of the national grid.

Earlier reports had sparked fears of a looming nationwide outage, after NUEE issued a strike notice on Wednesday. While some parts of Abuja and its environs experienced power disruptions, Kunle Olubiyo, President of the Nigerian Consumer Protection Network, clarified that the outages were due to operational issues at the local distribution company, not a grid collapse.

With the truce in place, Nigerians can breathe a sigh of relief—at least for now—as the country’s fragile power sector faces yet another test of trust between government agencies and electricity workers.