Ikorodu Residents Storm Ikeja Electric HQ Over "Arbitrary" 7-Year Blackout
Ikorodu Community Marches Against Persistent Blackouts
Hundreds of residents from the Erunwen axis of Ikorodu Local Government Area staged a peaceful protest at the Alausa headquarters of Ikeja Electric (IE) on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. Under the aegis of the Joint Erunwen Community Development Forum, representatives from 18 registered Community Development Associations (CDAs) marched to demand an end to what they termed "arbitrary and prolonged" blackouts that have crippled the region for nearly seven years.
The protesters, representing an estimated 300,000 residents from communities including Riverview, Efundara, Gateway, Ogunaike, and Surulere, displayed placards and chanted songs to register their grievances against the distribution company (DisCo).
Allegations of Exploitation and Neglect
The leadership of the joint communities alleged that since 2017, the area has endured erratic power supply, which has recently deteriorated into a near-total blackout. Mr Maxwell Olowosoki, Chairman of the forum, accused the company of prioritizing revenue collection over service delivery.
"In any community where there is no light, there is no life. Businesses collapse, insecurity increases, and residents suffer needlessly," Olowosoki stated. "What Ikeja Electric is selling to us is darkness, not electricity."
The forum's Secretary, Mr Ayodele Adeyinka, further alleged that the company had engaged in "retaliatory load-shedding" after the community formally rejected a discriminatory power-sharing formula in January. According to Adeyinka, the company increased load-shedding from two transformers to six following the community's complaint.
Key grievances highlighted during the protest included:
Infrastructure Abandonment: The non-construction of a promised new injection substation to ease pressure on existing overloaded transformers.
Extortionate Repairs: Claims that residents are frequently forced to fund the purchase of fuses and other transformer components, costing hundreds of thousands of Naira.
Coerced Undertakings: Allegations that the DisCo demands residents sign documents surrendering ownership of components they personally purchased before repairs are carried out.
Socio-Economic Impact
The prolonged power outage has reportedly exacerbated insecurity in the Ikorodu outskirts and led to the closure of several small-scale businesses. Mrs Fausat Idowu, a local trader, lamented the heavy financial toll on families, noting that many households have been forced to rely on expensive generators or solar installations despite receiving consistent electricity bills.
Community leaders emphasized that Erunwen hosts a high concentration of professionals and business owners who have complied with directives to adopt prepaid meters, yet they continue to receive sub-par service compared to other zones.
Response from Ikeja Electric
Addressing the protesters at the Alausa headquarters, Mr Babatunde Asaaju, Head of Security for Ikeja Electric, called for calm and proposed a structured dialogue to resolve the impasse.
Asaaju suggested a roundtable meeting involving representatives from the Ikorodu Business Unit, the headquarters' technical team, and community leaders. He maintained that technical issues such as transformer overloading require an "operational understanding" that is best handled through the local business unit before being escalated.
The protest in Ikorodu underscores the growing tension between Nigerian electricity consumers and distribution companies over service quality and billing transparency. While Ikeja Electric has proposed a consultative approach, the residents have warned that further escalation is likely if the promised infrastructure specifically a functional injection substation is not delivered. For now, the 300,000 residents of Erunwen remain in a state of watchful waiting as the roundtable negotiations commence.
