Hundreds of women from Ifesowapo, Irewolede, and Ifesokan communities in Imowo Nla, Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State, on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest over what they described as a prolonged blackout in their communities.
The protesters stormed the Omitoro, Ikorodu Business District office of Ikeja Electric, barricaded the entrance, locked the gates, and prevented movement in and out of the premises for several hours.
The women carried placards with inscriptions such as, “IKEDC! Give us our transformer”, “Prolonged blackout: Enough is enough”, “IKEDC, restore our light”, “Our businesses are suffering due to blackout”, and “We want our transformer back and working.”
The protesters, who began the demonstration on Monday, lamented that the prolonged outage had paralysed commercial and economic activities within the affected communities.
According to them, the blackout started several months ago after the only transformer serving the communities developed a fault and was taken away by Ikeja Electric for repairs without being returned.
Residents said repeated attempts to engage officials of the distribution company had yielded no meaningful results.
Speaking during the protest, the leader of the women, Bisi Oluwo, accused the company of insincerity and neglect, saying the demonstration became necessary after weeks of unfulfilled promises.
She explained that the transformer was removed after it became faulty, adding that nothing had been heard from the company since then.
“Before we came out to protest, the CDAs had several meetings with officials of Ikeja Electric so that the transformer they took away could either be repaired or replaced, but nothing was done. All they gave us were empty promises,” she said.
“At this point, we told ourselves that enough is enough. Our businesses and means of livelihood have collapsed. Economic and commercial activities have been crippled because of the blackout.
“The few privileged residents who can afford fuel for generators are doing so at huge costs.”
She added that artisans, traders, and small business owners in the area had suffered severe losses due to the outage.
Another protester and frozen food seller, identified simply as Teju, lamented that the prolonged blackout had damaged goods in her shop and left her business struggling.
“We are suffering severe losses because of the blackout caused by the removal of our transformer. It has damaged the goods in my shop and left me stranded. We are also battling the rising cost of fueling generators,” she said.
During the protest, some Ikeja Electric officials trapped inside the office attempted to address the crowd but were resisted by the women, who insisted on getting a definite date for the return of their transformer.
Police officers later arrived at the scene and appealed to the women to unlock the gates, but the protesters initially refused.
A senior official of the company, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press, later addressed the women from the office balcony.
He explained that the repair or replacement of a faulty transformer involved laid-down procedures, which could take time.
The official also urged the women to nominate three representatives who would interface with the company and relay feedback to the communities.
However, the women maintained that their major demand was the immediate return of their transformer.
Calm was eventually restored after police officers from the Igbogbo Division, led by the Divisional Police Officer, intervened and persuaded the women to reopen the office gates.
The protesters later dispersed after Ikeja Electric officials, in the presence of the police, assured them that the transformer would be repaired and returned to the community within two weeks.
Efforts to get the reaction of the Head of Corporate Communications of Ikeja Electric, Kingsley Okotie, were unsuccessful, as calls to his phone were not answered, while messages sent to his WhatsApp line were read but not replied to as of the time of filing this report.
