The Federal Government on Wednesday announced that it has spent about N8.8bn to repair and put into functional use transmission towers vandalised across the country......Read The Full Article>>.....Read The Full Article>>
A statement from the Federal Ministry of Power quoted the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Transition Company of Nigeria (TCN), Engr. Suleiman Ahmed Abdulaziz, to have disclosed this while speaking at the Quarterly Power Sector Working Group meeting in Abuja.
Abdulaziz, who was represented by the Executive Director, Transmission Service Provider (TSO) of TCN, Engr. Olugbenga Emmanuel Ajiboye said between January 13, 2024, and now, 128 transmission towers have been destroyed, either by vandals or bandits, across the country.
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He lamented 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.
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“As I talk to you today, 128 of our towers have been destroyed by either vandals or bandits. To date, we have spent about N8.8bn, 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 the police for prosecution, the police would take the incident for theft instead of vandalism, and they would 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 take 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 some cases, they would tell us that we could only work for two hours 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.
Also speaking, the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, who was represented by his Chief Technical Adviser, Mr Adedayo Olowoniyi, said the Federal 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.
“Mission 300 is driven by the World Bank and the African Development Bank, and it is a project that will provide electricity to 300 million Africans, and Nigeria will benefit 50 million 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 the 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 microgrid, grid extension and connection”, the Minister said.
He continued: “The reality is that it is not 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”.
