Nigerian govt spends N8.8 billion to repair vandalised power towers – Official

The government explained that between 13 January 2024 till date, 128 transmission towers have been destroyed either by vandals or bandits across the country.

The Nigerian government on Wednesday said it has spent about N8.8 billion to repair transmission towers vandalised across the country.

Bolaji Tunji, special adviser on strategic communication and media relations to the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.

Mr Tunji said the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Suleiman Abdulaziz, disclosed this at the quarterly power sector working group meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

In recent times, vandalism has become a major threat to Nigeria’s power infrastructure.

Mr Abdulaziz, represented by the Executive Director, Transmission Service Provider (TSO) of TCN, Olugbenga Ajiboye, explained that between 13 January and today, 128 transmission towers have been destroyed either by vandals or bandits across the country.

“As I talk to you today, 128 of our towers have been destroyed by either vandals or bandits. To date, we have spent about N8.8 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 the police for prosecution, police would indict them for theft, instead of vandalism, and they would be bailed,” Mr Abdulaziz said.

He lamented that when the vandals were apprehended and handed over to the police for prosecution, they were bailed and returned to continue with the vandalism.

“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 some cases, they would tell us that we could only work for two hours on 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,” he added.

Also speaking, Mr Adelabu said the federal government was working in collaboration with the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) to make electricity available to 50 million Nigerians by the year 2030.

Mr Adelabu, represented by his Chief Technical Adviser, Adedayo Olowoniyi, said the Ministry of Power is collaborating with its finance counterpart to get this process achieved.

“Mission 300 has been 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,” Mr Adelabu said.

He said the compact document will be signed by President Bola 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 private and public sector participation. We will do it through the solar form system, mini and microgrid, 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 said.