Residents and business owners on Raji Oba, Awoyemi, Folarin, Ajala, Olonade, and Akinshola streets in the Alimosho area of Lagos State have decried a prolonged power outage that has lasted over three months due to a faulty transformer.
They said the blackout, which began in March, has crippled local businesses, disrupted daily life, and raised serious safety and security concerns.
“We have been stranded for over three months without power. They should help us,” a resident, Mayowa Adedeji, told our correspondent on Thursday.
Despite being categorised as Band A consumers—who are expected to receive between 20 to 24 hours of electricity daily—the affected communities say they now experience complete darkness, forcing them to rely heavily on alternative and costly power sources.
“We have been struggling in darkness,” said another resident, Mama Chioma. “It’s affecting our health and businesses. We are pleading with IKEDC to urgently address this.”
Efforts by the residents to get a response from the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) have so far yielded no results. On March 16, the Olonade-Akinsola community sent a letter titled “Urgent Request for Band A Intervention on Prolonged Power Outage in Our Community” to the electricity provider.
The letter, signed by the community’s Vice Chairman, Innocent Agwagwu, stated:
“The power failure has severely impacted our daily activities, businesses, healthcare services, and overall well-being in these six streets. We are yet to receive a clear response regarding an estimated time for restoration. The continuous blackout has caused significant discomfort, economic losses, and security concerns within our community.”
The residents are now appealing to regulatory authorities—including the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)—to step in and compel IKEDC to restore power to the affected areas.
“We just want light restored. We can’t continue like this,” one shop owner said, echoing the frustration felt across the community.