Residents of Waterfront Estate, Sekumade Estate and the NBC Community in the Ebute axis of Ikorodu Local Government Area, Lagos State, on Friday, embarked on a peaceful protest to draw attention to a prolonged electricity outage that has left their neighbourhoods in darkness for months.
The aggrieved residents 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.
Carrying placards bearing messages 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 protesters decried the hardship imposed on households and businesses by the blackout.
They said 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.
Speaking during the protest, one of the residents, Moshood Aderibigbe, accused the electricity distribution company of repeatedly failing to honour assurances given to the communities.
“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 noted that the extended outage had severely disrupted economic activities, forcing residents to rely heavily on generators and spend huge 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 during the demonstration 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 when a senior company official addressed the protesters, expressing sympathy and assuring them that efforts were underway to resolve the issue.
He 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, when a clearer timeline for power restoration would be provided.
Lagos communities protest months-long blackout, barricade Ikeja Electric office
