Power Surge Kills 19-Year-Old Student, Causes Property Damage in Jos

A 19-year-old undergraduate, Funom Edison, tragically lost his life due to a power surge in the Rukuba Road community of Jos North Local Government Area, Plateau State.

The surge caused the destruction of properties worth millions of naira, and several people suffered various degrees of injury from electrical shocks.

The incident occurred around 11 a.m. on Sunday, May 25, 2025, but was brought under control within minutes.

According to Punch, the electricity supply from the Jos Electricity Distribution Company had been off for some time before being restored, causing significant disruption to the community’s socio-economic activities.

While many residents were still trying to recover what they could from their damaged homes, Mrs. Joy Okpara Uba described the situation as “pathetic.”

“What happened to us in this community is pathetic,” Mrs Okpara-Uba, who lost her big deep freezer and other electrical appliances as a result of the power surge bemoaned the situation.

“Yesterday, I couldn’t go to work. If you enter my room now, the whole place has turned black due to the thick smoke that engulfed the entire room. I had to stay awake throughout yesterday trying to clean the house.

“Even a wake that I was supposed to attend, I couldn’t go. I’m still speechless about what happened, but I thank God that I’m alive.

“I lost all my electrical appliances. They were burnt. The house almost caught fire, but it was the help of neighbours who came with all manner of things to put out the sparks of flames. These were part of the efforts put in that eventually saved the situation.”

Recounting how she escaped being electrocuted, 38-year-old Madam Ether Eche said, “As at Saturday, due to the heavy rainfall, we did not have light throughout the day. So on Sunday, JEDC restored the light around 11 am and everyone was excited that light had been restored. At least, it would enable us to charge our phone batteries.

“But before I could reach out to plug my phone, most of the electrical devices started sparking and I tried to switch off the extension but before I could reach out to the control box, I discovered that it was already engulfed in a fire. So, we ran outside and started calling for our neighbours’ help.

“That was when we discovered that many electrical poles were also on fire and some meters in other peoples’ houses were also already on fire.

“Helpless and lost on what to do, but we were determined not to get consumed by the sparks of fireworks, we just started doing all manner of mass disconnection just to make sure that the fire did not spread to more peoples’ houses. Luckily for us, not everything got burnt as we were able to salvage some of them.”

For 32-year-old Shade, the incident had a more harrowing outcome. Her mother, who was resting inside the house at the time, was caught in the electrical surge and rushed to the hospital in critical condition, nearly dead.

Shade, who has been going back and forth between the Bingham University Teaching Hospital where her mother was admitted, recounted the terrifying experience:

“On Sunday, after the church service, my mother was inside the house. As I was about to enter the house, somebody shouted that the electric lights were sparking all over. Out of panic, people started running in different directions trying to bring their children out from their homes while others attempted to salvage one or two household appliances or other very useful items from their houses because we thought the whole community was on fire.

“It was at that moment that somebody told me that my mother was inside the house. After struggling to enter into the house, I saw her already trapped by the power surge on top of the electric stabiliser. I shouted and called for help, and within minutes, she was pulled out. I thought she was already dead because she could not move. We rushed her to the hospital. We thank God that she is now at the Bingham University Teaching Hospital receiving some treatment.”

The most heartbreaking case was that of Madam Jonathan, who lost her 19-year-old son, Edison, to the power surge.

Edison was an active leader at the ECWA Teenage Church Center on Rukuba Road and the ECWA Goodnews Center. He died about two hours after taking part in a church service.

He was laid to rest on Thursday, May 29.

Edison had just been admitted to Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in Bauchi and was scheduled to return to school on Friday before his untimely death.

His grieving mother broke down in tears as she recounted the tragic incident.

“I was not in the house when the whole thing started but my sister who was around called me on phone and asked me to call an electrician to come to the house because every electrical outlet was just sparking,” she narrated.

“I said okay, that I would call the electrician but that she should first of all switch off all appliances before he comes. After a while, I called her again to ask if she had done as instructed, and she said ‘yes’ but that the fire was not being controlled anymore.

“I now ordered her to vacate the house with others inside and immediately called other neighbours to assist with the situation. I could hear her telling everyone to leave the house immediately, and the next thing I heard was her shout that my son had been thrown to the floor and had suffered electrocution. Even when neighbours came and cut the control switch, he was still stuck on the ground.

“But before they could do any other thing, they discovered that he was not making any movements again, and that was how he d!ed.”