Many Nigerians are spending the Yuletide in darkness as persistent power outages swept across some states in the South-West, South-East and the North.
The situation is dimming festive celebrations and grounding economic activities.
The blackout, which earlier triggered protests in Edo State and forced households to depend on generators, has also drawn fresh condemnation of electricity distribution companies and government agencies over what critics described as a systemic failure in the power sector.
Parts of Lagos, Ogun, Abia, Kwara, Osun, Anambra, Kano were affected by the power outages, as residents complained of irregular electricity supply before, during and after the Christmas celebration.
Some affected residents, who spoke to our correspondents, said they struggled to preserve foodstuffs bought for the Yuletide due to the lack of stable electricity to power their freezers.
A week earlier, the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating expenditure in the power sector accused electricity distribution companies of shortchanging Nigerians and failing to deliver on the promises that informed the privatisation of the industry 13 years ago.
On Tuesday, human and vehicular movements were halted for several hours as residents of Idokpa community in the Aduduwawa area of Edo State blocked a major highway leading into and out of Benin to protest what they described as several weeks of power outage in the community.
A Benin Electricity Distribution Company official, in reaction to the protest, said the outage was due to shortage of gas used to generate electricity.
This came as many parts of Lagos had, for weeks, been experiencing erratic power supply.
The Eko Electricity Distribution Company, in a post on its X handle, attributed the persistent power failure to gas supply constraints arising from pipeline vandalism, as reported by the Nigerian Independent System Operator.
The distribution company said the development had resulted in intermittent load-shedding across its franchise areas.
Responding to the situation, the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, in a statement on Tuesday, assured Nigerians that electricity supply would be restored within 24 to 48 hours.
He said efforts were already underway to stabilise the grid and return supply to normal levels nationwide.
However, findings showed that electricity had not been fully restored to the affected areas, forcing many Nigerians to take to social media to decry the outage.
They lamented that the “poor power supply” was punitive, as they had to endure harsh weather without air conditioners and spend more on fuel to power their generators.
A resident of Showboy in Ore, Ondo State, Ednut Ola, described the power situation as frustrating during the festive season.
He noted that the period was particularly important for celebration and required constant electricity.
Ola said, “This festive period is meant to be filled with light, joy, celebration and togetherness, yet everything feels dark, frustrating and exhausting.
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