The Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company has bemoaned the rising cases of vandalism of power supply infrastructure in its franchise which has taking heavy toll on the company’s operations.
The company conveyed its ill-feeling in a statement,saying 158 distribution sub-stations were vandalized across the four franchise states of the Company between January and June this year.
The Chief Engineering and Technical Services Officer of the Company, Engineer Bello Musa,disclosed that his company lost N238,701,800:65 (two hundred and thirty eight million, seven hundred and one thousand, eight hundred naira, sixty five Kobo) worth of equipment .
He was quoted in the statement as also saying that the company lost N147,953,449:01in expected revenue during the period under review.
Some of the prolonged outages and service disruption suffered by the customers,he said, are due to vandalism and theft of power supply assets of the company by some selfish and criminal elements in the society.
He described the vandalism of power supply assets as “despicable act of sabotage and heinous crime against the society”.
“The destruction of critical national assets like power supply infrastructure by a few unpatriotic elements is a despicable act of sabotage, a mindless criminality and the pinnacle of irresponsibility which we must collectively fight as a society,” he said.
According to him, 54 distribution sub-stations of the 158 vandalized have been repaired and supply restored to the affected customers while efforts are being made to bring the remaining to back to service.
He implored security agencies and the prosecuting authorities to bring full weight of the law against the perpetrators of this crime.
He also advocated the need for more vigilance by communities and neighborhood vigilante groups so as to arrest the situation.
