May 12, 2026 | SUNTV Global Channel
Residents of several communities in have cried out over a prolonged 10-day blackout, accusing and its subsidiary, MainPower Electricity Distribution Limited, of incompetence and poor service delivery.
The affected areas include Emene, Trans Ekulu, Thinkers Corner, Emenite, Airport, Alo Aluminium, Akpuoga, Nkwubor, Ugwuomu, Abakpa Nike, Nike Lake, and Ugwogo, where electricity supply has reportedly remained cut off since May 3 following a heavy rainstorm.
Frustrated residents told reporters that homes, hospitals, businesses, and water facilities have been thrown into severe hardship as economic activities continue to suffer under the prolonged outage.
Many residents lamented that despite contributing money for transformers, poles, and cables within their communities while still paying electricity bills regularly, they have been abandoned in darkness for over a week.
A lecturer at , Dr. Okoye, described the situation as evidence that the electricity distribution company lacks the technical capacity to manage power supply in the South-East region.
“This problem should not take more than 24 hours to fix in any sane society,” he said.
According to residents, the blackout has disrupted water supply in high-rise buildings, grounded elevators, spoiled food items stored in refrigerators, and forced businesses to spend heavily on fuel and generators to survive.
A businessman, Chika Onyemerukwe, accused the company of exploiting residents while failing to provide reliable electricity.
“They are only interested in collecting money while businesses continue collapsing because there is no power supply,” he lamented.
Another resident, Eze Philip, said he had already spent over N40,000 on petrol within a few days just to power his small generator at night.
“Everything inside my freezer has spoiled. Fuel is over N1,350 per litre and salaries are not increasing,” he said.
Residents further disclosed that hospitals, hotels, frozen food operators, sachet water producers, and small-scale businesses across the affected communities now rely heavily on expensive diesel and generators to remain operational.
The prolonged outage has once again exposed Nigeria’s deepening electricity crisis, despite the privatisation of the power sector over a decade ago.
Earlier, MainPower Electricity Distribution Limited blamed the blackout on heavy rainfall and strong winds that reportedly damaged electricity infrastructure in parts of Enugu metropolis.
In a statement, the company said the storm caused wire cuts on Emene Industrial Lines 1 and 2, affecting several 33kV feeders connected to the New Haven Station.
The company added that technical engineers had been mobilised to repair the damaged facilities and restore electricity supply.
However, angry residents insist that the prolonged blackout reflects deeper failures within Nigeria’s power sector and warned that continued poor electricity supply would worsen poverty, unemployment, and economic hardship across the South-East region.
