Residents of Governors Road in Ikotun, Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State, have accused Ikeja Electric of insensitivity following a prolonged blackout that has lasted more than 10 days.
Speaking on behalf of the community, the Chairman of Igando Peace Estate Phase IV Community Development Association (CDA), Emmanuel Joseph, said the outage has crippled both economic and social activities in the area.
“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,” Joseph stated in a press release on Wednesday.
Advertisement
READ MORE : EFCC Secures Conviction Of 21 Internet Fraudsters In Oyo
He further criticized Ikeja Electric for failing to engage with consumers affected by the outage, stressing that the absence of proper communication has worsened residents’ frustrations.
“The absence of communication from your office has created uncertainty, 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.
Residents also expressed concern over the safety of transformers, cables, and other electrical installations in the community, calling on the electricity distribution company to take preventive measures to safeguard them.
One affected resident lamented the hardship, saying: “We have been using pure water to cook and we have to buy extra fuel just to pump water to bath. It is financially draining.”
Another resident added: “We have not had light in two weeks. It is affecting businesses. They should resolve it quick.”
In its response, Ikeja Electric attributed the power outage to a faulty transformer at the Oke Afa Injection Substation, which has significantly reduced power supply in the affected areas.
“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 percent of our customers,” the company explained in text messages sent to its customers.
The Ikotun blackout comes amid broader electricity challenges in Nigeria. On Wednesday, the national grid collapsed again, plunging large parts of the country into darkness.
According to the Punch, about 1,505 megawatts of power had been restored by 6 pm that day, but the collapse had already disrupted electricity distribution companies nationwide and left millions of Nigerians without power.
