Residents of Yaba Lagos protest poor power supply as Nigeria's electricity crisis continues

• Residents of Abule Oja and Abule Ijesha in Yaba protested for six months of near-total blackout

• They accuse the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company of discrimination and systemic corruption

• This is the latest protest in a series of protests caused by the decline in electricity supply that has plagued the country all year.

There's no end in sight for Nigeria's electricity issues as residents are now returning to the streets to protest poor power supply.

On April 27, 2026, the residents of Yaba, Lagos State, marched to the Igbobi branch office of the Ikeja Electric Distribution Company (IEDC) to protest the poor power supply in the area. In video clips shared by Arise Television, the residents of Abule Oja and Abule Ijesha in Yaba, protested the discriminatory power supply that has placed the area in near-total blackout for 6 months. They accused the IEDC of discrimination and corruption

The video shows residents protesting at the gate of the IEDC despite attempts by some police officers to disperse them.

This protest is the latest in a series of protests across different states over the country's rapidly declining electricity supply. In March, residents in Lagos, Osun, Edo, and Oyo States protested poor power supply.

For months now, power supply in the country has significantly deteriorated due to a massive drop in the operation of thermal power plants, whose operators have blamed their inability to offset debts to gas suppliers on the federal government's nonpayment of a backlog of electricity subsidy costs.

The power generation company placed the debt owed by the federal government from its unfunded electricity subsidy at 6 trillion naira, which they claim has made the companies incapable of offsetting debts to gas suppliers. The Tinubu administration reviewed the claim and concluded that the actual figure of the debt is 3.3 trillion naira.

The former Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, who recently resigned to focus on his ambitions to be the next governor of Oyo State, stated that the issue plaguing the power sector is beyond the government's control. He added that Nigeria needs an investment of 100 billion dollars to achieve a stable electricity supply.

While President Tinubu has approved the process to kick-start the payment to the generating companies, the power situation in the country has yet to improve.

In a bid to address the power supply issues, Tinubu set up the Grid Asset Management Company (GAMCO) to improve power generation and transmission and tackle the low performance of the national grid.

So far, Nigeria's power sector is struggling to produce 4,000 megawatt for over 200 million people despite the country having an installed capacity of 15,000 megawatt.

While speaking at the Federal Executive Council on April 21, President Tinubu blamed the previous administration's poor privatisation process for the issues plaguing the country's power sector.

Ahead of the 2027 elections, Nigerians have been reminding Tinubu of the campaign statement he made in 2023, where he promised to deliver a 24-hour power supply and told Nigerians not to vote for him if he came back for reelection.