Mohammed Shosanya
The Federal Government,Tuesday lamented the persistent blackout in the Northern part of the country,saying it would be fixed in few days.
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, expressed this at the press briefing organised by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in Abuja,
The minister,who said vandalisation of transmission equipment in the North is not strange,disclosed that the act was responsible for the long blackout in the region.
He implored Northerners to redouble their efforts in protecting the power equipment against the nefarious activities of vandals.
“We’re only appealing to our brothers to help us protect these equipment because the resources that could have been used for other projects are being channeled into repairing the vandalised infrastructure. We’re working and hopefully, light will be restored before the end of the week. We’re exploring alternative solutions while we continue to work to fix the vandalised towers,” he added.
He said the government will continue to work on the vandalised lines.
He also said that arrangements have been concluded for provision adequate security by relevant security chiefs including the National Security Advisor, the Chief of Naval Staff, the Chief of Air Staff, and the Chief of Army Staff.
He said:“We will still continue to work on the vandalised lines. This must have actually affected a number of parts, not just lines. Amongst the first parts, we know that a lot of single work needs to be carried out before the direct power can show that they are standing properly before the streaming of the light to the south. So, in a matter of two or three days, more than 70 to 80 per cent of the northern part, which is affected, will have light. That is the assurance that we give you.
“This is not the first time we will be having issues in that line. We’ve had vandalism there before but nobody noticed it because we fixed it within days. But this time it was more severe and the repairs were delayed because of security threats.”
The minister disclosed that there is a bill before the National Assembly for capital punishment for perpetrators of vandalism.
“We want stiffer punishment for these criminals. Also, we need to look at stopping the sale of scrap metals in the country. They are those who encourage vandalism because they buy these things from criminals cheaply.”
Speaking,the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, TCN, Sule Abdulaziz explained that the Shiroro-Mando 330kv line 1 tripped on 9 September, noting that the patrol of the safe area was done, but the faulty section could not be reached due to insecurity.
“Efforts were made by using local vigilantes who confirmed a snap conductor on a tower but they could not identify the tower number. Arrangements were made to use the local group to escort our engineers in the night to effect repairs in order to evade the bandits in the location. Unfortunately, we did not succeed because the bandits got wind of our intentions and laid siege to the area,” he added.
He also said minimum supply was maintained to the North-west corridor through the second circuit until 13th October when the second line tripped and failed to stay on the trial reclosure.
He further explained that local vigilantes were again engaged to comb the area but could only access part of the safe area.
He said the TCN solicited the support of the Nigeria Air force, Kaduna for unmanned aerial surveillance on 17th October and the impacted towers were identified.
