URGENT: Six‑day Lagos blackout cripples homes and businesses as power crisis deepens

Business, Entrepreneurship & SMEs

LAGOS, Nigeria (NPA) — Households and businesses across Lagos have continued to grapple with a widespread electricity blackout that has entered its sixth day, forcing many small enterprises to shut down as rising fuel costs make generator use increasingly unsustainable.

The prolonged outage has disrupted commercial activities across the state, with residents reporting difficulties in preserving food, pumping water, charging electronic devices and carrying out routine business operations.

Many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), already struggling with rising operating costs, say the prolonged power outage has pushed them closer to closure as they can no longer afford the high cost of diesel and petrol needed to run generators.

Industry observers warn that the situation could further weaken the SME sector, one of Nigeria’s largest employers after agriculture, if electricity supply is not restored urgently.

The power disruption has been attributed to a combination of reduced electricity generation at the Egbin Power Station, faults on critical transmission infrastructure and instability on the national grid.

Egbin Power Station, located in Ikorodu, Lagos, is Nigeria’s largest gas-fired power plant with an installed capacity of 1,320 megawatts. Its reduced generation in recent days has significantly affected electricity supply across Lagos and the South-West.

The situation has been compounded by a fault on the Omotosho–Ikeja West 330kV transmission line, one of the major transmission corridors supplying electricity to Lagos. The fault has restricted the volume of power transmitted into the state, resulting in reduced allocations to electricity distribution companies.

Power supply was further disrupted following a national grid voltage instability on June 26, which reportedly caused several generating stations to shut down and affected critical transmission lines, including the Benin–Egbin 330kV line.

Engineers are said to be working to restore full stability to the grid and repair the affected transmission infrastructure.

The outage has affected customers served by both Eko Electricity Distribution Plc (EKEDP) and Ikeja Electric, leaving many communities without electricity for several consecutive days.

The blackout has also disrupted operations at technology hubs, manufacturing firms and service providers, with many businesses relying entirely on expensive alternative power sources to remain operational.

Residents have appealed to the Federal Government, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), electricity generation companies and distribution companies to expedite repairs and restore electricity supply.

They warned that prolonged outages could worsen economic hardship, increase production costs and force more small businesses to close.

Energy experts say the crisis highlights the persistent structural challenges facing Nigeria’s electricity sector, where generation shortfalls, ageing transmission infrastructure and recurring grid instability continue to undermine reliable power supply.

They argue that long-term investments in generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure are critical to reducing recurring nationwide outages and improving electricity reliability.

As repair works continue, thousands of households and businesses across Lagos remain hopeful that electricity supply will be restored soon to ease the mounting economic and social impact of the prolonged blackout.