Electricity consumers have decried the continuous drop in electricity supply to households and businesses within the Lagos metropolis.

Several stakeholders in separate interviews on Tuesday in Lagos lamented that the development negatively impacted their socio-economic activities.

According to them, many small-scale businesses have shut down due to erratic power failures without tangible explanations from providers.

Power supply has dropped drastically in Lagos to as low as three to five hours of daily service and as low as three to five, with the business community continuing to lament the epileptic supply, respectively. Lagos is served by Ikeja Electric and Eko Electricity Distribution companies.

Communities have been thrown into darkness for some time now, while residents of Lagos metropolis are experiencing unprecedented power outages.

Opeyemi Ajayi, managing director of Victory Pure Water in Ikorodu, said the persistent energy crisis had negatively affected industries, causing shutdowns, hampering productivity and escalating operational expenses.

“We buy diesel between N1,150 and N1,200 per litre. Most small-scale businesses have started closing down due to the current outages in the country. We appeal to the Federal Government to save our businesses from total collapsing,” she said.

Waheed Jimoh, a welder at Somolu, said that electricity supply had dropped drastically since January, especially in the Somolu area.

Mr Jimoh said that some residents had been experiencing a total blackout three to four days a week, while some received supply less than five hours per day under the distribution company’s load-shedding scheme.

“Despite the poor power supply, Ikeja Electric still brought an estimated bill of over N170,000 for February. For instance, over 50 per cent of small-scale business operators (welders) in Lagos were forced to close their shops due to epileptic power supply,” he said.

Hassan Ibrahim, the chairman of the Agbede Community Development Association in Ikorodu, said most homes were in darkness for most of January, February, and March.

Mr Ibrahim said most of the households within his CDA had called him complaining about the abysmal electricity supply. He lamented that the worst were SME operators who depend on electricity for daily survival.

He added that supply within Ikorodu and its environs had dropped to less than five hours daily. However, he called on all relevant power sector value chain authorities to prioritise reliable and steady electricity supply.

Adetayo Adegbemle, executive director and convener of Power Up Nigeria, said, “We need to first generate enough to go round.

“Then, we need to price electricity appropriately. We need to remove subsidy on electricity tariff and look at getting institutional financing or any other creative means for metering.

“We should stop treating electricity like national cake that must get to everyone, we need to liberalise the sector totally so we can have quick electricity coverage for the nation,” he advised.

Mr Adegbemle said an energy-poor nation is a poor country. He stated that the only way forward was to appropriately price electricity, remove subsidy, and encourage some liberalism so that many parts of the country could develop in sync.

He added that the government could also develop deliberate policies that encourage the development of production ecosystems and collaborations across value chains.

Chinedu Amah, the founder of Spark Nigeria Ltd., said Nigeria needed to take a stand to slowly withdraw subsidy from the sector.

Babatunde Lasaki, spokesman for Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), said the situation was caused by a gas shortage.

(NAN)