After nine months of living without electricity, Bakare, Olajide, and Taiwo Streets in the Idi-Araba area of Lagos have finally received power supply. The prolonged power outage had severely impacted businesses and raised concerns about the security of life and property.

It is understood that the outage was caused by damage to the internal wiring of the local transformer, which led to Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) removing it.

Speaking with The Guardian, Joseph Savage, a resident of the area, lamented that little progress was made in restoring power until the last two weeks of September, despite the area having been without electricity since December of the previous year.

Another resident, Sofiat Atanda, said: “Residents were compelled to pay N5,000 and N10,000 per house to help fund the repairs. The outage caused a lot of problems for me as an intern at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. I had to charge my devices at the office to use them at home. We also had to buy many torches and candles so we could light up our rooms and always slept with the windows open.”

The Chief Imam of Idi-Araba Central Mosque, Nurjudeen Adeyemi, said: “Those who used generators to charge devices increased their fees, and residents had to walk several streets to get cold water. We simply had to cope. There was nothing we could do but endure until they replaced the transformer.

“Power was restored this October, but shortly after, the cable of another transformer in the area was damaged, affecting the newly restored supply. However, EKEDC is currently working on it.”