Frustrated residents of Nasarawa State took to the streets of Lafia on Monday, voicing anger over persistent and unreliable electricity supply that has disrupted homes, businesses, and essential services across the state.
Marching along major thoroughfares, the demonstrators called on the government to intervene urgently in what they described as a worsening power crisis. Placards in hand and chants filling the air, they highlighted the far-reaching effects of prolonged blackouts on economic activities, education, healthcare, and daily life.
Dilapidated Infrastructure and Poor Maintenance Blamed
Leading the protest, Ibrahim Abdullahi Attama criticised the state’s electricity management, attributing repeated outages to ageing infrastructure, worn-out transformers, inadequate power allocation, and a lack of preventive maintenance. According to Attama, many components of the distribution network — poles, cables, and transmission lines — are visibly corroded and obsolete, contributing to prolonged power interruptions.
“The situation has reached a critical point,” he said. “Businesses, schools, hospitals, and residents’ quality of life are all being severely affected.”
Attama also noted that even when facilities appear functional, the electricity supply remains minimal and inconsistent, indicating a fundamental shortfall in the megawatts allocated to Nasarawa State. He stressed that this inadequacy hampers productivity, forcing residents and businesses to rely on costly alternative energy sources.
Calls for Immediate Government Intervention
The protesters urged the Nasarawa State Government to conduct a full audit of the electricity infrastructure and collaborate with relevant federal power agencies to secure increased allocation for the state. They called for the replacement of faulty transformers, enforcement of routine maintenance schedules, and improved communication between the distribution company and consumers.
further criticised the management structure overseeing power distribution as inefficient and largely unresponsive to complaints. “We are not asking for too much,” he said. “We want stable power to sustain our livelihoods. If the government fails to act, we will continue to express our grievances peacefully until solutions are implemented.”
National Power Challenges Compound the Crisis
According to reports, Electricity Distribution Companies have previously attributed low nationwide supply to insufficient gas for the national grid and reduced water levels at hydroelectric plants. The Nigerian Independent System Operator confirmed that gas shortages have limited electricity generation to approximately 4,300 megawatts, further exacerbating state-level supply challenges.
As the protests highlight, residents of Nasarawa State are growing increasingly impatient with prolonged outages and are demanding concrete action to restore reliable power to support economic growth, education, and daily life.
0 Comments