Lagos Communities Block IKEDC Office Over Prolonged Blackout

Lagos Communities Block IKEDC Office Over Prolonged Blackout
Demand Transformer Replacement After Months in Darkness
Aderibigbe added that the extended outage had severely disrupted economic activities

Residents of Waterfront Estate, Sekumade Estate and the NBC Community in the Ebute axis of Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos on Friday staged a peaceful protest over a prolonged electricity outage that has left their neighbourhoods without power for months.

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Eko Hot Blog reports that the protesters marched to the Ikorodu Business District office of Ikeja Electric, where they blocked the entrance, disrupting movement into and out of the premises for several hours.

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Carrying placards with inscriptions such as “IKEDC! You are meant to be an agent of light, not darkness” and “Eight months without power is enough, restore our electricity,” the residents lamented the hardship imposed on households and businesses by the blackout.

They explained that power supply to the three communities had been disconnected since August 2025 after the only transformer serving the area developed a fault and was neither repaired nor replaced.

Lagos Communities Block IKEDC Office Over Prolonged Blackout — Protest

Speaking during the protest, a resident, Moshood Aderibigbe, accused the electricity distribution company of failing to honour repeated assurances.

“Before resorting to this protest, we held two meetings with Ikeja Electric officials over the faulty transformer, but nothing concrete was done. All we got were promises without action,” he said.

Aderibigbe added that the extended outage had severely disrupted economic activities, forcing residents to rely heavily on generators and spend large sums on fuel.

According to the protesters, artisans, traders and small business owners have suffered significant losses, while families continue to grapple with the rising cost of alternative power sources.

Tension reportedly rose when residents demanded to speak with the district’s Business Manager. Although the official briefly arrived at the office, he left without addressing the crowd.

Calm was later restored after a senior company official addressed the protesters, expressing sympathy and assuring them that efforts were underway to resolve the issue.

The official explained that the repair or replacement of damaged transformers follows established procedures, which can be time-consuming, adding that about 300 faulty transformers across Ikorodu are currently awaiting attention.

“We are making efforts to restore electricity as quickly as possible. It does not benefit us for customers to remain in darkness because the company also loses revenue,” the official said.

He assured the residents that the process would be fast-tracked and promised that representatives of the affected communities would be engaged on March 5 to provide a clearer timeline for power restoration.