NOA DG Urges Residents To Manage Electricity Use
By Sherif Salau
The National Orientation Agency (NOA) Director General has urged Lagos residents and citizens nationwide to embrace prudent spending, reduce unnecessary electricity consumption, and adjust their lifestyles to match their financial capacity as the country grapples with rising living costs and persistent economic challenges.
He painted a familiar picture: homes left with air conditioners and lights running long after the occupants have left for work. “You must have travelled abroad. You don’t go to anybody’s house as we speak, who has gone to work and you see the AC working or you see the light on,” he said. “Go to many homes in this country, we do that. So, we also must manage our lifestyle, it’s part of our responsibility.”
Issa-Onilu framed the adjustment not as hardship but as practical necessity. “People must now understand that you have a responsibility to look at yourself and say, how do I adjust? Adjust is not suffering, adjust is living within your means.”
The appeal lands at a time when Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, continues to grapple with the twin challenges of rising living costs and inconsistent power supply. Residents in several parts of the state have reported longer outages in recent months, forcing greater reliance on generators and driving up household expenses. In such an environment, the call for careful energy use and disciplined spending carries particular weight.
The National Orientation Agency has long positioned itself as a voice for behavioural change and public enlightenment. Issa-Onilu’s latest intervention sits squarely within that mandate, reminding citizens that personal responsibility remains part of the collective response to economic strain.
Whether the message will prompt meaningful shifts in daily routines remains to be seen. For many Lagos households already stretching limited resources, the advice may feel less like guidance and more like confirmation of what they already know: that careful management of both money and electricity has become an everyday necessity.
