POWER SECTOR AND THE VANDALS
All stakeholders should do more to protect the vital assets
As the nation continues to grapple with persistent power outages and unreliable electricity supply, this most critical sector is also witnessing the twin-problem of theft and vandalism of its transformer and power-line cables. The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, who recently lamented this development, has called on the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to intensify its crackdown on vandals targeting critical power installations across the country. At a meeting with the Inspector General of Police, Olatunji Disu, the discussion reportedly dwelt on widespread energy theft and the continuous destruction of electrical equipment that has remained major obstacles to reliable power supply nationwide. At the end, both agreed on stronger tactical collaboration to protect the national grid,
It is unfortunate that at a period when the nation is overburdened with the quest for improved and steady power supply, some unpatriotic elements are hell-bent on sabotaging government efforts. The immediate consequence of this criminality is that life is made more difficult for law abiding citizens who are thrown into darkness due to erratic and unreliable power supply. Also, the national economy is seriously threatened as industries are being shut down and employees laid off because companies cannot meet production targets. It is therefore time that the authorities took serious measures against these criminals.
While we lament this deplorable situation, it must also be stated that the menace of electricity equipment vandals persists because of the existence of some “market” for these stolen items. Obviously, no criminal would be foolish enough to take the risk of stealing whole transformers and power-line cables without having an assured off-taker market somewhere ready to buy such equipment. Sometimes these stolen transformers and other equipment turn up for resupply by contractors in the sector. After all, no single individual can afford the purchase and installation of such specialised equipment without the active connivance of the officials.
There is no doubt that the incidents of theft and equipment vandalism are costing the nation huge sums of money. On annual basis, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) announces loss of several billions of Naira to this sabotage, including the ones deliberately inflicted by insurgents in the Northeast of the country.
To the extent that what we are dealing with is a serious national economic sabotage, the security agencies should be up and doing in apprehending the hoodlums and bringing them to justice. We also call on the host communities to help by way of real-time intelligence and information to the security agencies. Criminals come from within specific communities and when they realise that they would be exposed by their kinsmen they would certainly have a second thought. Community leaders should therefore consider it a patriotic duty to join in the fight against the vandalism of electricity equipment.
What is particularly worrying is that the security agencies have a long history of tough words that have been of no effect as the criminally minded people within our society get more and more emboldened. It is incumbent on all the critical stakeholders to come up with a solution that will work. But the bottom-line remains that we must protect these vital assets of the nation from the grip of criminals.