TACKLING VANDALISM IN THE POWER SECTOR

It’s in our enlightened self-interest to expose the criminals

Critical stakeholders in the power sector have lately been worried about the activities of vandals. The latest victims are many residents of Bayelsa State who have been without electricity supply for several weeks after vandals destroyed 13 towers on the Ahoada-Yenagoa 132kV Double Circuit transmission line on 29 July. The state Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Ebiuwou Koku-Obiyai, said it was an “attack on the social and economic well-being of the residents of the state and a sabotage on government’s investment drive”. Described by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) Managing Director, Sule Abdulaziz, as a “national disaster”, those who vandalised the towers, according to Koku-Obiyai, did it deliberately to “make life difficult” for the residents.

But the problem is not restricted to Bayelsa State, it is national. So endemic is the incidence of vandalism of electricity equipment that except drastic action is taken to contain the menace, it may cripple the power sector in the country. The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) reported recently that no fewer than 170 incidents of electrical installation vandalism occurred within two years in the South-east. According to the company, about 135 of the suspected vandals were arrested and handed over to the police at different stations, out of which over 100 had been charged to court from January 2022 till date.

 Following a recent revelation that the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company lost many distribution transformer substations under its network to these vandals we warned of the dire implications of the activities of these criminal elements. The company had expressed worries at the increasing rate of equipment vandalism, noting that the criminal acts which subsided after the conviction of two vandals to various terms of imprisonment had surged in the last six months.

Unfortunately, this is a common story across the country as managers of the DisCos make strenuous efforts to cope with  deliberate destruction of equipment which indeed has become a major obstacle to their businesses. The immediate consequence of these acts is that life is made more difficult for law abiding citizens who are unduly thrown into darkness.  Also, the nation’s economy is seriously threatened as industries are shut down and employees laid off because companies cannot meet production target. Indeed, the epileptic nature of the power sector has contributed to the stagnation in the national economy.

 While we lament this deplorable situation, it must be stated that the menace of electricity equipment vandals persists because of the existence of some “market” for the stolen items. Obviously, no criminal could be foolish enough to take the risk of stealing whole transformers and powerline cables without having an assured off-taker market somewhere, ready to buy such equipment. The menace is now an organized crime, involving insiders, including public officials and their collaborators. Sometimes stolen transformers and other equipment turn up for resupply by contractors within the sector.

It is unfortunate that as the nation remains overburdened with the quest for improved and steady power supply, there are unpatriotic elements hell-bent on sabotaging government efforts and throwing their fellow citizens

 into hardship. The security agencies should be up and doing in apprehending the hoodlums and bringing them to justice. Host communities should also be encouraged to help by way of intelligence and information to relevant authorities so as to check the menace. Community leaders should consider it a patriotic duty to join in the fight against vandalism of electrical equipment by exposing these criminal elements. It is in everyone’s

overall interest.