North-east Insurgents Damage N1.7bn Power Facilities in Nine Months, Says FG

• Military alleges locals sabotaging power installations
• MTN, Glo, Airtel lose 10,000 fiber cuts to vandals

By Olawale Ajimotokan

The Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, has put the cost of vandalised transmission equipment that belonged to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in Maiduguri, Bornu State in the last nine months at N1.7 billion.

Of late several parts of Maiduguri and its environs have been plunged into darkness occasioned by the vandalism of power lines making it impossible for the TCN to transmit power.

The outcry was made yesterday by the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu at the Town Hall meeting organised by Ministry of Information and Culture to address vandalisation of Power and Telecommunications infrastructure.

His revelation was reinforced by the Theatre Commander Joint Task Force (North East) Operation Hadin Kai, Maj. Gen. Christopher Musa, who alleged sabotage against some locals for the acute power cuts in the state.

Aliyu, who was represented by the Managing Director, TCN, Engr Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz, said in the last nine months the company had lost 848 megawatts per day totaling N1.17 billion.

He said the company had consistently been losing on a monthly basis an average of N130m as immediate charges on Maiduguri and environs.

He also said that eight 330 KV single circuit transmission lines valued at N880m were vandalized by the insurgents between January 2021 to date. He said an average 330kv tower cost N110m per tower.

“Insurgent attacks on power facilities have led to a huge drain on our revenue and it has affected the socio and economic lives of our people. In one month, TCN lost an average of N130 million in one month on immediate charges on Maiduguri and environs.

“From January 2021 to date which is nine months, TCN has lost 848 megawatts per day totalling N1.17 billion. Some of our staff also lost their lives,’’ he said.

He said it has become an uphill task for the company to ensure bulk transmission of electricity through Damaturu-Maiduguri and Damboa-Maiduguri 330kv and 150kv lines due to disruption of power lines by insurgents.

Also in his remarks at the meeting held at Government House, Maiduguri, the Theatre Commander Joint Task Force (North-east) Operation Hadin Kai, Maj. Gen. Christopher Musa, alleged sabotage against some of the locals in areas hosting the power lines as the reason for the spike in cases of electricity power lines vandalism.

He accused the black legs of providing information to insurgents about military movement, that makes it possible for Boko Haram to vandalise the lines as soon as the military withdraws.

“We have reasons to believe that there are saboteurs around that make it possible for this to happen.

“There are people around those areas that give information about our movement and what we do on daily basis. We try as much as possible to maintain 24-hour surveillance but as soon as we leave information is passed around and this (vandalism) happens,” Gen Musa said.

He suggested punitive punishment for anybody found selling vandalized power transmission items in the open market in addition to the incorporation of carbon markings on some of that equipment so that whenever there is an attempt to sell it in the market it will be easy to trace who is bringing it and how it got to the market.

The military officer also lamented that the disruption to the power supply is affecting the military as they have been unable to store some of their hardware at a certain temperature.

Also, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami, said that many mobile network operators including MTN, 9mobile, Globacom and Airtel had suffered service hiccups due to outages caused by attacks on telecoms installations and fiber cuts by terrorists in the north-east.

The minister, who was represented by the Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Ubale Maska, said all the major telecoms operators in the country lost 10,000 fibre cut from January to July 2021. He said MTN suffered the largest disruption of 6,424 fibre cuts while 9mobile reported outages due to 2,851 fibre cuts.

He called for community collaboration in the monitoring and protection of the 50,000 telecoms towers across the state from vandals as security operators alone cannot effectively protect them.

The Governor of Bornu State Prof Babagana Zulum, called on the federal government to consider the possibility of deploying technology to protect physical infrastructure as it is virtually impossible to provide 24-hour protection for power lines in the state or any other part of the country.

The governor also called on citizens to protect all government infrastructure in their domain, in view of the huge investment the federal government is making in the rehabilitation of neglected infrastructure and construction of new ones across the state.

He said Borno State had been in total darkness for about nine months due to the nefarious activities of the Boko Haram terrorists, who bombed high tension cables and other power infrastructure.

Zulum said that apart from the approval by President Buhari for the establishment of an alternative power supply to Borno state through the NNPC, the President has also directed the Ministry of Power to look into the possibility of providing 150 megawatts of solar energy plant in Borno State to ensure sustainable power supply to the state.

He commended the Nigerian Armed forces for the support in resolving the lingering security challenges in the state, adding the ongoing spate of the surrender of Boko Haram members is a welcome development.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said the town meeting on the protection of infrastructure was meant to create in the public mind that government property are citizens’ property that must be protected for the benefit of all.

The minister said the Buhari Administration is taking loans in order to build infrastructure that will benefit generations of Nigerians and reverse the massive infrastructure deficit in the country.

He said currently there are well over 13,000km of federal roads under repair, rehabilitation and reconstruction, emphasized that there is a road project in every state of the Federation.

He observed that in recent times, however, such laudable efforts of the government were being thwarted by some unpatriotic citizens through wanton destruction of critical infrastructure, thereby depriving the greater citizenry- for whose benefits these projects and services are provided – from enjoying them.

“Railway tracks are being subjected to wanton vandalism, bridge railings are being removed, manhole covers are being pilfered, and so are critical aviation, power and telecommunications infrastructure. The consequences of such unpatriotic action and behaviour, aside from endangering the lives of fellow innocent citizens, include the toll it takes on the government’s limited revenue to replace, rehabilitate or totally reconstruct such destroyed infrastructure,” he said.