Nigeria: Lagos Residents Hit The Streets To Protest Eight-Month Blackout

Scores of residents in Lagos, Nigeria, from Waterfront Estate, Sekumade Estate and NBC Community in the Ebute area of Ikorodu, took to the streets on Friday to protest what they described as eight months of total blackout in their communities, The Punch reported.

According to the report, the protesters converged on the Ikorodu Business District office of Ikeja Electric, barricading the entrance and preventing movement in and out of the premises for several hours.

The protesters carried placards with various inscriptions, including: “IKEDC! You are supposed to be an agent of light, not an agent of darkness,” “Eight months in darkness. Enough is enough. Restore our light,” and “We burn fuel to run generators for months,” as residents lamented the hardship the prolonged outage has imposed on them.

According to the residents, the area has been in darkness since August 2025 after the only transformer serving the three estates developed a fault and was not replaced.

They said several attempts to engage officials of the distribution company had yielded no tangible results.

Some of the protesters accused the utility of insensitivity, saying the demonstration became inevitable after months of unfulfilled promises.

“Before we came out to protest, we had two meetings with officials of Ikeja Electric so that our transformer could be fixed or replaced, but nothing was done. What they have done is pay lip service to our plight. Our women, alongside our councillor, even visited their Alausa head office in January for another meeting. They promised to get back to us in three weeks, but as I speak to you, they have not,” one protester said, as quoted by Punch.

“At this point, we told ourselves that enough is enough. Our businesses and means of livelihood have collapsed because of the situation. The few privileged ones among us who can afford fuel for their generators are doing so at a huge cost,” the protester added.

During the protest, an official of the company attempted to address the crowd, but the residents insisted on speaking only with the Business Manager of the Ikorodu district.

Although the manager reportedly arrived at the premises, he left shortly after without addressing the protesters, further heightening tensions.

However, a senior company official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press, later addressed the aggrieved residents.

He expressed sympathy over their ordeal and regretted that previous engagements had not produced the desired outcome.

The official explained that repairing or replacing faulty transformers requires adherence to laid-down procedures, which can be time-consuming.

“We are putting in the effort to ensure that power is restored to your estates as soon as possible. I know you would only appreciate the result, not the effort, but it is not our happiness that you are in darkness. We are also losing money as a company because of the situation. The truth is, there are about 300 faulty transformers across Ikorodu currently in our workshop, and we can only fix or replace them one at a time,” he told the press.

He, however, assured residents that efforts would be fast-tracked and promised to liaise with the company’s head office to provide a clear timeline for the restoration of electricity.

The official further pledged to meet with representatives of the protesting communities on Thursday, March 5, to provide feedback on steps taken to resolve the crisis.