Nigeria’s power transmission company, TCN, has spent N8.8 billion to repair electricity transmission towers attacked by vandals and bandits across the country.
The Managing Director of TCN, Engr Suleiman Abdulaziz, revealed this at the Quarterly Power Sector Working Group meeting in Abuja in a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the Minister for 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. To 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 the police for prosecution, police would charge them for theft instead of vandalism, and they would 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 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 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.
“Mission 300 is 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 the 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 microgrid, grid extension and connection,” the Minister said.