Residents of Waterfront Estate, Sekumade Estate, and NBC Community in the Ebute area of Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State on Friday staged a peaceful protest over what they described as eight months of total blackout in their communities.
The protesters converged on the Ikorodu Business District office of Ikeja Electric, barricading the entrance to the operational office and preventing movement in and out of the premises for several hours.
Clutching placards bearing 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 the generator for six months,” the residents lamented the hardship the prolonged outage had imposed on them.
They stated that the blackout began in August 2025 after the only transformer serving the three estates developed a fault and was not replaced.
According to the residents, several attempts to engage officials of the distribution company had yielded no tangible results.
One of the protesters, Moshood Aderibigbe, accused the company of insincerity, saying the demonstration became inevitable after months of unfulfilled promises.
He stated, “Before we came out to protest, we had two interfaces with officials of Ikeja Electric so that we could have our transformer fixed or replaced, but nothing was done. What they have done is to pay lip service to our plight. Our women, alongside our councillor, were even at their Alausa head office in January for another interface. They promised to get back to us in three weeks. As I speak to you, they have not gotten back to us.
“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.”
He added that artisans, traders and small business owners in the affected communities had suffered severe losses, while households struggled with the rising cost of fueling generators amid the outage.
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 tension at the scene.
However, a senior officer of the company, 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 a faulty transformer required adherence to laid-down procedures, which he said could be time-consuming.
He stated, “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 as a result 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, however, assured the residents that efforts would be fast-tracked. He promised to liaise with the company’s head office and 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 the steps taken towards resolving the crisis.
