Residents of Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, and Yola, the Adamawa State capital, are once again grappling with a prolonged electricity blackout following a fault at a Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, facility, a development that has intensified concerns over the reliability of power supply across the northeast.
The latest outage has left homes, businesses and public institutions without electricity for the past three days, with Jalingo metropolis among the worst affected.
The blackout has disrupted commercial activities, forced many businesses to rely on costly alternative sources of power and compounded the hardships faced by residents already struggling with rising living costs.
The incident comes at a particularly difficult time for electricity consumers in the region, as TCN had only recently announced a planned maintenance exercise that was expected to result in a temporary power interruption across several northeastern states.
According to the company, electricity consumers in Bauchi, Gombe, Damaturu, Maiduguri, Yola, Jalingo and surrounding communities are scheduled to experience a planned outage from 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 25, until 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 26, 2026, to enable maintenance work on critical transmission infrastructure.
However, the unexpected fault has effectively extended the blackout for many customers, sparking frustration among residents who say they have been left in darkness even before the commencement of the scheduled maintenance.
Business owners and residents expressed concern over the worsening power situation, noting that the prolonged outage has affected economic activities, increased operational costs and disrupted household routines.
Explaining the cause of the
