The Transition Company of Nigeria, TCN, has disclosed that about N8.8 billion has been spent to repair electricity transmission towers attacked by vandals and bandits across the country.
The TCN Managing Director, Engr. Suleiman Abdulaziz, disclosed at the Quarterly Power Sector Working Group meeting in Abuja, as contained in a statement by the Special Adviser to Minister of Power on Communications, Bolaji Tunji.
Mr Abdulaziz, who was represented by the Executive Director, Transmission Service Provider, TSO, of TCN, Engr. Olugbenga Emmanuel-Ajiboye said that between January 13, 2024 and now, 128 transmission towers have been destroyed either by vandals or bandits across the country.
He said: “As I talk to you today, 128 of our towers have been destroyed by either vandals or bandits. Till date, we have spent about N8.8 billion, by our estimation, to put them back to full and functional use.
“It is so sad that each time the vandals were caught and taken to police for prosecution, police would incident them for theft, instead of vandalism and they will be bailed. If they are charged for vandalism, they cannot be bailed, but this is where we are.
“So many of them have been arrested, but each time they will be bailed because police often incident their cases as that of theft.
“When the Shiroro-Mando-Kaduna towers were destroyed, we had to get the full military escorts for our contractors to get the transmission lines and towers restored and, in some cases, they would tell us that we could only work for two hours in some days.
“In some instances, they would even tell us that it was not safe to move there. How do we get out of this? How can we deliver electricity to Nigerians under these terrible circumstances? These are part of the challenges we are facing in the power sector,” Mr Abdulaziz lamented.
At the meeting, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, also disclosed that the Federal Government was working in collaboration with the World Bank and the African Development Bank, AfDB, to make electricity available to 50 million Nigerians by the year 2030.
Mr Adelabu, who was represented by his Chief Technical Adviser, Adedayo Olowoniyi, said the Power Ministry was collaborating with its Finance counterpart to get this process achieved.
“The mission 300 is been driven by the World Bank and the African Development Bank and it is a project that will provide electricity to 300 million Africans and Nigeria will benefit 50 million from this. Nigeria has a large population that is without electricity and this is a great opportunity for us to be part of this process.
“The Compact document will be signed by our President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Tanzania in January, 2025. We worked extensively with World Bank, the AfDB and the Ministry of Finance to develop the document with all the countries that will be participating in it.
“The most important thing is that we have to drive the process by ourselves through the private and public sector participation. We will do it through the solar form system, mini and micro grid, grid extension and connection,” the minister said.
