Customers of Ikeja Electric, one of Nigeria’s leading utility companies, have voiced their frustration over poor network connectivity that has hindered their ability to recharge electricity meters for the past two days.
In interviews conducted by Vanguard, several residents connected to Ikeja Electric reported ongoing network issues, with all attempts to recharge proving unsuccessful, despite the availability of electricity supply.
Ebuka, a resident of Ago-Palace in the Okota area of Lagos, expressed his frustration: “My electricity ran out on Tuesday, and I’ve been trying to recharge since then, but the network keeps bouncing it back. I had to buy fuel for my generator, even though power is available in my compound. It’s really frustrating that I didn’t top up my meter earlier.”
Similarly, Ayotunde, a resident of Surulere near Kilo bus stop, revealed that the network failure has persisted throughout the week. “It’s frustrating. I can’t stay calm anymore. I might have to call them out on social media because I don’t understand why such a minor issue is taking so long to fix,” he said in a phone interview.
When contacted, Ikeja Electric’s Head of Corporate Communications, Mr. Kingsley Okotie, confirmed the network issues and explained that the problem is part of a nationwide outage affecting multiple sectors. “There is a network failure across Nigeria, impacting several industries, including banks, which is causing many transaction failures. Ikeja Electric is not an exception, but we are working to resolve it,” Okotie stated.
When asked for a timeline on when the situation would be resolved, Okotie responded, “I can’t give a definite time, but we are working on it.”
On Ikeja Electric’s official Instagram page, a notice was issued apologizing for the disruption. It read:
“Dear Esteemed Customer,
We sincerely apologize for your inability to use our payment channels. Our internet service providers are experiencing severe infrastructure issues, and we are working closely with them to resolve this and restore normalcy as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”