By Linus Aleke, Abuja
The Federal Government (FG), has appealed to Nigerians to monitor and protect power facilities in their areas and around the country.
The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu made this call in a statement signed by the General Manager, of Public Affairs of TCN, Ms. Ndidi Mbah.
Ms. Mbah, also disclosed that vandals have brought down one of the Transmission Company of Nigeria’s (TCN), towers, in the northeast.
She said that tower T372 around Katsaita Village in Yobe State was affected, bringing down the 330kV transmission tower which pulled down tower T373 along the same transmission line route
“The incident, which took place at about 21:18, caused the failure of power supply to parts of the North East, namely, Yobe and Borno States,” the statement said.
While patrolling the line to ascertain the cause of the cut in power supply, TCN engineers discovered the fallen towers, and the villagers confirmed they heard a loud explosion before the tower came down.
“On closer investigation, the engineers found evidence of explosives used by the vandals in bringing down the towers,” a TCN spokesman said.
TCN, she said, has mobilized one of its contractors to the site of the incident to commence the reconstruction of the transmission towers damaged by the vandals, according to the Company.
Speaking on the incident, Chief Adelabu appealed to this set of Nigerians to stop the act of deliberate sabotage that could hinder government’s effort to provide a regular electricity supply to Nigerians.
“We should not continue to be our own worst enemy,” the Minister said.
He urged Nigerians to also protect government assets in their areas adding that a comprehensive plan to protect the facilities would soon be unveiled.
He said: “We are also working on appropriate legislation to tackle the menace of vandalism”.
Also, TCN has strongly condemned the incident while expressing regrets for the inconvenience caused to the government and people of Yobe and Borno States and pledged to do all that is possible to quickly re-erect the towers to restore power supply to the affected areas.
According to the statement, “We are once again making an urgent appeal to host communities to collaborate with TCN in the fight against vandalism and the necessary preservation of power infrastructures nationwide, which is our collective asset”.
