Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has lost about 1.17-billion-naira revenue on the vandalized Damaturu – Maiduguri transmission line from January 26th to September 24th, 2021, translating to an average energy loss of 840MW/hr for the period. The Company also lost 880 million naira to the destruction of eight (8) 330kV towers brought down by insurgents within the same period.

The Minister of Power, Engr. Abubakar D. Aliyu, FNSE, represented by the Ag. Managing Director and CEO of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) Engr. Dr. Sule Abdulaziz disclosed this during the Annual Town Hall Meeting in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, organized by the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture to address the nagging issue of vandalism of power and telecommunications infrastructure in the country. He further revealed that as of September 17th, 2021, TCN had completed five new towers and associated transmission lines, awaiting energization, when insurgents brought down another two transmission towers at Auno Village the next day, making it impossible to energize the rehabilitated line.

Speaking further on the issue, the Minister noted that from the gas pipelines to the transmission lines and towers to distribution infrastructure nationwide, vandalism is a reoccurring decimal that has seriously affected efforts by the present administration to put in place a more robust grid. Consequently, funds budgeted for rehabilitation and expansion of the nation's grid have to be used for the repair and restoration of vandalized installations of the grid. 

This challenge, he said, has become a national embarrassment, and there is the urgent need for stakeholders to work together to find solutions against the backdrop of a deliberate effort by the present administration to ensure the provision of adequate infrastructure in addition to rehabilitating existing ones for a more robust electricity network..

He noted that on the Maiduguri axis, the bulk transmission of power through Damaturu – Maiduguri 330kV line, and the Damboa – Maiduguri 132kV transmission lines and some parts of the North East is also affecting power distribution through Yola DisCo. Moreover, reconnection or repair work constantly exposes TCN Engineers and contractors to danger and constitutes a drain on revenue and funds meant for grid expansion.   

The Honorable Minister further disclosed that several installations in other parts of the country are also not spared by vandals. Examples of such widespread acts of vandalism include Lambatta Village near Suleja, where two towers were vandalized in 1996 and along Benin-Ikeja West, two towers were vandalized in December 2002 disrupting supply to Lagos.

In the same manner in August 2015, a tower in Oronta village in Abia State was brought down by vandals. In Umuahia, ten drums of aluminum conductors were carted away by vandals disrupting the erection of a new tower. Also, the Escravos – Lagos pipeline was blasted by vandals, disrupting gas supply to over six power generation stations in the western part of the country in 2016, among others.

The Honourable Minister suggested that the challenge posed by vandals can be tackled through extensive public enlightenment, which would ensure that the general public, especially the host communities, understand their role in the protection of power infrastructures. According to him, when people see themselves as part-owners of power assets, they will be more committed to partnering with the government to check the vandals.

Engr. Aliyu also suggested that modern electronic security/surveillance equipment that can detect and monitor installations using radio frequency signals should be deployed, while security agencies must ensure that no market exists for the sale or purchase of vandalized electrical equipment in the country. This, he said, should be backed up by appropriate legislation with stiff penalties. In this regard, he advised that the Nigerian Police Anti-Electricity Vandalism Response Squad, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps as well as DisCos /TCN should work together to help contain the menace.

Also commenting on measures to improve power supply in the Maiduguri axis, the Honourable Minister opined that executing embedded generation such as the proposed NNPC 50MW gas power plant, solar farm, or wind farm, could ameliorate the effect of power outage within Maiduguri.

Earlier, in his opening address, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that the scale of vandalism is worse than we can imagine affecting not just the telecommunication and power sector, but also railway tracks, bridge railings, and critical aviation powered infrastructure, which ultimately impacts negatively on the economic development of the country.

He tasked the communities hosting these installations to intensify effort and devise methods that will help them protect the installations, noting that there was need for more vigilance to enable the arrest and prosecution of culprits and people who engage in buying or selling these items.

Also speaking during the program, the Governor of Borno State, Professor Baba-Gana Zulum said that the choice of Maiduguri as the venue for the meeting could not have been more appropriate, with the increased spate of vandalism of electricity infrastructure by insurgents, especially on the Damaturu and Demboa axis, which has brought untold hardship to the people.

He enumerated efforts of the State Government in collaboration with the Ministry of Power, TCN, and NNPC to restore power to the State, in the short run, to ameliorate the suffering of the people through the NNPC 50MW embedded generation.