The president of the Nigeria Consumer Protection Network (NCPN), Kunle Olubiyo, has sharply criticized the persisting and deteriorating power outages in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and urged the federal government to act decisively by sanctioning the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC). His criticism is especially stern in light of the recently announced 16-days planned power interruption that is expected to impact several areas of Abuja from January 6th to 21st, 2025.
With this planned outage which is due to relocation of some towers occasioned by road dualization project, AEDC reported that the affected areas will experience load shedding during the period. Olubiyo characterized the prolonged Power Outage as an impending financial disaster, especially for Abuja’s electricity users. He emphasized the extensive impact on manufacturers, bulk consumers, and organizations of all sorts, from micro and small firms to medium-sized and large-scale operations. According to him, the financial losses expected during this blackout could amount to billions of dollars, exacerbating the economic challenges already faced by many businesses and residents.
AEDC faced harsh criticism for not meeting demands.
He labelled the planned outage an egregiously careless move on their parts, noting that both the AEDC and TCN should have taken proactive measures to avoid such disruption. Olubiyo also called for a review of the management of energy providers and a commitment to stronger governance, highlighting the need for increased transparency in their operations. The NCPN president underlined that the federal government must hold TCN and AEDC responsible for their shortcomings, adding that punitive actions are necessary in order to promote reform and enhance service delivery.
Olubiyo stated that imposing penalties on the operators will put pressure on them to increase their efficiency and service quality in addition to acting as a deterrence. He also emphasized the urgent necessity for presidential intervention to lessen the negative consequences of the FCT Administration’s ongoing development projects, which have further strained the city’s electricity infrastructure. The incapacity of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, which is responsible for providing electricity to Abuja and a number of neighboring states, to fulfill the region’s increasing energy demands has drawn harsh criticism.
Multiple technical issues already surfaced in 2025.
Even in the face of continuous reforms in the power industry, the AEDC has frequently suffered from technical issues, subpar service delivery, and insufficient Infrastructure maintenance, This is evidenced by the multiple outages that were recorded in various areas of the FCT in 2025, in the backdrop of numerous power outages experienced in 2024. On January 4, 2025, the AEDC reported a technical fault on feeders serving areas in NERC and its environs, leading to power outages.
On January 5, the company announced further outages in Agwan Koro, Madalla, Police Estate, Efab Estate Dakwa, FHA Zuba, and other locations, citing technical issues with the feeders. On the 6th of January, a malfunction at a 60MVA 132/33kV transformer under TCN’s management caused additional outages that impacted Koton Karfe, Lokoja, and its nearby areas. The same day, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company reported that a technical issue with the feeder cause power outage that affected parts of Durumi Area 1, Diplomatic Drive, National Hospital.
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Other affected areas are The Dome, Russian Embassy, Equatorial Guinea Embassy, UN, World Trade Center, ICPC, Church Gate, and its environs. These interruptions follow AEDC’s inability to meet the expected 20 hours of electricity per day on average for Band A feeders from December 1st to 25th 2024. While the corporation has acknowledged its failure to meet the expectations and promised to compensate customers for these inconveniences, this assurance hasn’t done much to ease the frustration of residents and businesses.