Mohammed Shosanya
The Federal Government has spent about N8. 8 billion to repair and put into adequate use transmission towers vandalised in the country.
Bolaji Tunji,Special Adviser to the Minister of Power on Strategic Communication and Media Relations,said in a press statement.
The disclosure,the statement quoted, was made on Tuesday,by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Transition Company of Nigeria (TCN), Engr. Suleiman Ahmed Abdulaziz, at the Quarterly Power Sector Working Group meeting in Abuja.
The Minister also announced that the Federal Government was working in collaboration with the World Bank and the African Development Bank (ADB) to make electricity available to 50 million Nigerians by the year 2030.
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 complained that when the vandals were apprehended and handed over to police for prosecution, they were bailed and they would return and continue with the vandalism.
He added:“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 the some cases, they would tell us that we could only work for two hour 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”, Abdulaziz said.
The Power Minister,who was represented by his Chief Technical Adviser, Mr. Adedayo Olowoniyi, said the Nigerian government was working with the Word Bank and the African Development Bank to get 300 million Africans to have access to electricity by the year 2030.He said the Power Ministry is 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 millions Africans and Nigeria will benefit 50 millions 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 reality is that it is not actually feasible, based on the resources we have, to extend the grid to all Nigerians, one, from the funding point of view and secondly, it may not be commercially viable to begin to talk of grid extension to those parts that are not viable, but that does not mean that we should not deliver electricity to them, which is their right and as part of the dividends of democracy. But we will start with the home solar system in those areas where the grid may not work”,he added.
