Ikotun Residents Lament 10-Day Blackout, Accuse Ikeja Electric of Insensitivity
Residents of Governors Road in Ikotun, Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State, have cried out over a prolonged blackout that has lasted more than 10 days, accusing Ikeja Electric of failing to consider the suffering of the community.
Speaking on behalf of the residents, Emmanuel Joseph, chairman of the Igando Peace Estate Phase IV Community Development Association, said life in the area has been brought to a standstill.
“This prolonged blackout has caused untold hardship to households and businesses and disrupted daily activities. Many residents have had to resort to alternative sources of energy at great financial and environmental cost,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
Joseph also faulted the electricity provider for not engaging with its customers, adding that the absence of communication had left the community in uncertainty.
“The silence from your office has created anxiety, leaving consumers in the dark—literally and figuratively—without knowledge of the cause, expected restoration time, or measures being taken to address the situation,” he said.
The outage has forced many residents to improvise. One resident explained that her family had resorted to buying sachet water just to cook, while also spending more on fuel to pump water for domestic use.
Another lamented that businesses in the area were grinding to a halt, stressing, “We have not had light in two weeks. It is affecting our means of livelihood. They should resolve it quickly.”
Beyond the economic hardship, residents have also raised concerns about the safety of electrical installations, urging preventive action to protect transformers, cables, and other facilities from possible vandalism.
In its response, Ikeja Electric attributed the blackout to a faulty power transformer at the Oke Afa injection substation, noting that the situation was affecting most of its customers.
“The shortfall in supply we are experiencing across all our 11kV feeders is due to a faulty power transformer at Oke Afa injection substation.
Kindly note that this will continue until repair is completed. This affects 90% of our customers,” the company said in a message to consumers.
The Ikotun power cut comes against the backdrop of wider problems in Nigeria’s electricity sector. On Wednesday, the national grid collapsed once again, plunging many parts of the country into darkness.
Although over 1,500 megawatts had been restored by evening, the disruption left many distribution companies unable to supply power.
Labour unions, including the Nigerian Labour Congress, have criticised the Federal Government for failing to address the recurring crisis in the sector, pointing to poor infrastructure, inadequate planning, and weak investment as major factors.
