Residents of Ogunbowale, Taiwo and Adegbola streets in the Ilasamaja area of Lagos have raised concerns over a prolonged blackout lasting more than a month, warning it has increased the risk of burglary and caused economic hardship.
The residents told PUNCH Metro on Tuesday that the transformer serving the community developed a fault in late March, prompting Ikeja Electric to remove it for repairs.
They said repeated visits to the company’s Okota office for updates have yielded no clear timeline, with officials reportedly assuring them that work is ongoing.
A resident, Tayo Adedayo, said efforts to get information had been unsuccessful.
“We have been in darkness for over a month and every effort we have made has yielded no results,” he said, adding that responses from the company remained unchanged.
A trader, who identified herself as Elizabeth, said the outage has disrupted daily life and business activities. She said the heat has made it difficult to sleep, while electricity-dependent businesses have suffered losses.
“Many businesses are grounded because people need cold drinks and water, and those of us selling them have no sales. Hairdressers, barbers, welders — they are all running at a loss, and the fuel price hike has made it worse,” she said.
She also warned that the blackout could worsen insecurity in the area, noting that darkness increases the risk of theft at homes and shops, especially at night.
Elizabeth said the community had written letters, sent emails and protested during visits by government officials, but the situation remains unresolved. She appealed to electricity authorities to act urgently.
Another resident, Babatunde Gabriel, said the outage has forced residents to take extra security measures to prevent vandalism of electrical infrastructure.
“We now have to watch over the IE upriser cable from being stolen. We have reached out to Ikeja Electric management, but they just keep promising without a specific time to restore power,” he said.
He urged the company to respond with urgency, saying residents want to be treated with empathy.
When contacted, the Head of Corporate Communications at Ikeja Electric, Kingsley Okotie, appealed to residents to be patient.
He said the faulty transformer would be returned as soon as possible.
“We are not happy that potential customers who would help the company to drive revenue are left in that situation. Within the shortest possible time, it will be returned,” he said.
“We are appealing to them to exercise a little bit of patience with us and we will fix it very soon.”
