Nigerias electricity sector is significantly challenged in various ways which has further complicated the nations energy crises thereby creating some problems across the chain.Despite the difficulty of the electricity generation companies in meeting their generation capacities, both thermal and hydro segments, following pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta and low water level as well as poor transmission capacity, the increasing rate of vandalism and theft of transformers and accessories across the country has been a source of concern for operators and consumers of electricity in the country.The menace is posing another big threat to the current effort of the federal government towards resuscitating the sector to provide improved and stable power to the people, yet despite these challenges, the federal government has consistently renewed its commitment to addressing the hydra-headed challenges confronting the power sector holistically with a view to ensuring that Nigeria has quality uninterrupted power supply in the shortest possible time.At a recent event organised by the Nigeria Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) to flag-off the certification of electrical contractors in the country, the minister of power, works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, stated that the government was working tirelessly to stamp out quacks in the installation of electrical facilities as well as the procurement of substandard electrical equipment.While appreciating the role of the NEMSA in this regard, Fashola noted that the certification exercise was primarily aimed at ridding the Nigerian electricity network of bad installations and substandard materials that often cause power-related accidents such as electrocution and fire outbreak.Admonishing the Nigerian public to play their part by always engaging the services of certified engineers in their electrical installations, the minister said that any certified contractor found wanting in the process will be sanctioned accordingly. While this is on-going, vandalisation of electrical installations, especially transformers and accessories, is assuming an alarming rate across the country.The service engineer and manager of the Ado Electricity Distribution Station in Karu local government area of Nasarawa State, Mr Abdulmumuni Otaru, who spoke to LEADERSHIP in his office, recently, said that incidents of transformer vandalisation are common occurrences in the area, adding that in the last two months, three substations have been vandalised.An incomer cable was removed from the one at the Estu Karu Palace about two months ago. In fact since last year, that transformer has been vandalised up to four times and the management have been giving us the cable to replace it each time it happened. In one of the cases the community promised to do the casting and as we were in that process the cables were vandalised again. However, out of the four incomer cables, the vandals succeeded in removing only one.But at last we succeeded in fixing it and it is working now, he said.In a related incident, the Kalikali Station which is not far off was vandalised within the same period of time.The vandals cut off one of the up-riser cables and made away with it. We have also fixed and cast it and it is serving the people now, he said.He lamented that the rate of transformer vandalism is not abetting at all just as another incident happened at Broad Street, New Nyanya.One thing I discovered is that the customers themselves do not help matters. When they have issues with their line, instead of coming straight to our office they patronise touts who parade themselves as electricians to fix these issues for them, and in that way, these touts become the managers of their facilities overnight. These touts at times arrange to vandalise the facilities or are used in the process of vandalisation.Again these scavengers (locally called baban bola) you see around sometimes cut the earth wire. That is why we instruct that when casting is being done, the earth wires should be part of it so that it will be difficult for anyone to remove them. One problem is that when these things happen, customers think it is our officials that do them, until they see a tout arrested in connection with such.These criminals often exude some measure of confidence and pose as electricity company staff when they come to vandalise. So I have told our customers that if they see anybody with aluminium ladder, he is not from us.What we use is fibre ladder with a special colour. We use that for safety but it is expensive such that it is not everybody that can afford it. I even advise heads of the communities to call me whenever they have issues so that even when I am not on ground, I call my boys to go and fix the problem. I dont charge them anything, yet most of them prefer to go the way of touts who assume the position of staff and hide under that to perpetrate their acts of vandalism when the community least expect it, he lamented.He went further to state that those who indulge in the act come usually in groups of three or four and, at times, with a vehicle because the cables they usually steal are too heavy to be carried away by one person, noting that the vandals usually target the residents to see when the area is less busy so that they can strike. He disclosed that most times they perpetrate the evil act during the early mornings, especially around 5am, when people are up for another days work and residents or passers-by would think they are our staff.He equally stated that the vandals often carry out their nefarious activities at nights, especially when it is raining, and appealed for the cooperation of residents as a way out, urging the public to always be vigilant and willing to monitor the facilities to ensure that those coming to effect repair are legitimate staff of the electricity distribution company.As you know, though the security operatives have to be involved, they are not God and cannot be everywhere every time monitoring the facilities to forestall the destructive acts of the miscreants, he said.The manager who identified insufficient manpower as a major challenge to efficiency, however, fingered the high rate of unemployment in the country as one of the foremost reasons for the spate of vandalism and other social vices in the society.An electrical engineer resident in the New Karu, Mr Paul Obasi, who also spoke to LEADERSHIP, corroborated the managers statement. He said that his area has been in darkness for several weeks and that light in the area is being rationed on a two days on-two days off arrangement. He regretted that most residents do not care to engage electricity company officials when they have problem but call on some street guys to fix their light, most especially because they charge relatively far less or, as in some cases, nothing at all to work on their facilities.According to him, The self made electricians use substandard wires and overcrowd the network not knowing or minding the consequences of such their actions.These are lazy guys that even when you give them jobs they cannot do them but prefer to have the best meal, best clothes, etc. So they go about this illicit business, stealing saleable parts of electrical installations. You can see that we are the ones sabotaging and underdeveloping ourselves.
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