Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos State, has embarked on a 25-day partial blackout that threatens to cripple businesses, manufacturers, and financial institutions with projected losses running into hundreds of billions of naira.
The power interruption, announced separately by Ikeja Electric and Eko Electricity Distribution Company last Friday, will affect most parts of Lagos and Agbara in Ogun State during working hours (8:00 am to 5:00 pm daily) from July 28 to August 21, 2025.
The disruption stems from critical maintenance work on the Omotosho-Ikeja West 330kV transmission line by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) – a vital artery in Nigeria’s power grid connecting Ondo State’s Omotosho Power Station to Lagos.
While essential for long-term grid stability, the outage poses severe short-term economic consequences for Africa’s largest economy, where Lagos accounts for over 70% of industrial and commercial activities.
According to energy sector analysts, the 25-day disruption will force businesses to rely on expensive alternative power sources like diesel generators, with the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) estimating the additional energy cost burden at “hundreds of billions of naira.” Hospitals, hotels, manufacturers, and 24-hour service providers face particularly severe operational challenges.
The outage compounds existing electricity woes in Lagos, where some Band A customers in Alimosho have endured three-month blackouts due to unresolved transformer failures.
The financial impact extends to the DisCos themselves – Ikeja Electric and Eko DisCo, which collected N101 billion and N105 billion respectively in Q1 2025, now face revenue losses during the outage period.
This comes as Lagos residents and businesses already spend an estimated N13 trillion monthly on electricity, according to state government figures.
While the maintenance aims to improve long-term power transmission efficiency, the immediate economic disruption highlights Nigeria’s fragile energy infrastructure and the urgent need for diversified power solutions to support its commercial hub during critical infrastructure upgrades.
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cc: Daily Post Ng
