Residents of the Ajumoni Community Development Association in the Meiran area of Lagos have decried a prolonged power outage that has lasted for nearly one year, saying it has severely disrupted businesses and daily life while repeated appeals to Ikeja Electric have yielded no results.
Community leaders who spoke in separate interviews with Punch Metro on Saturday expressed frustration over the electricity company's failure to return their transformer, which was removed for repairs in March 2025.
The Chairman of the community, Niyi Adeyanju, detailed the community's ordeal.
"We have been in darkness since March 27, 2025. Ikeja Electric took our transformer, saying it needed repairs, but since then, we have not seen anything," Adeyanju said.
He explained that the community had made several attempts to resolve the issue through different offices of the electricity company without success.
"We have been engaging them without success. We visited their undertaking office at Abule-Taylor and also escalated the issue to their Akowonjo Business Office at Ponle, but nothing came out of it.
We also reported the matter to their Alausa head office and even to the Lagos State Electricity Commission, yet there has been no solution," he added.
Another resident, Afusat Bello, said the prolonged blackout had forced many tenants to relocate to other areas with stable electricity.
"The stress is too much. Many tenants have moved to other places where there is electricity.
Our businesses have been badly affected," she said.
According to her, traders who rely heavily on electricity, particularly those dealing in frozen foods, have suffered huge losses.
"Many of them have gone out of business, especially those who cannot afford to rent shops outside the community.
There is almost nothing we can do without electricity. We cannot even pump water because it requires power," she said.
Bello also lamented the intense heat residents endure, especially at night.
"This is the hot season, and the heat is unbearable even with electricity.
You can imagine what we go through now that the transformer has been taken away.
Our children cannot sleep, and many people wake up at night just to take showers because of the heat," she added.
She further noted that the blackout had contributed to rising insecurity in the area and affected artisans who depend on electricity for their work.
Another resident, Bolanle, said the situation had worsened due to the rising cost of petrol, making it difficult for residents to rely on generators.
"Some of us used generators before, but we can no longer afford them because of the fuel price.
We used to buy a litre for about N750, but now it costs around N1,250. It is becoming very difficult to survive.
We need urgent intervention," she said.
When contacted on Sunday, the Head of Corporate Communications at Ikeja Electric, Kingsley Okotie, could not be reached as his phone line did not connect.
A WhatsApp message sent to him had yet to receive a response as of the time of filing this report.
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