Vandalism of electricity infrastructure act of terrorism, says Adelabu
2 min read
.. Advocates criminalization of sale of scrap metals
By Chris Ochayi
ABUJA: The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu has described vandalism of electricity infrastructure as an act of terrorism.
Adelabu, who spoke at the news briefing organized by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, on Tuesday in Abuja, said those vandalising power infrastructure will soon face capital punishment.
The Minister, while speaking further said the sale of scrap metals is a major cause of vandalism of critical national assets and infrastructure.
Chief Adelabu argued that if the sale is criminalised, incidences of vandalism will stop.
The Minister noted that those who vandalise power infrastructure have ulterior motives and a bill is with the national assembly to make vandalism a capital punishment.
He therefore appealed to the national assembly to fast-track the bill on capital punishment for vandals of transmission lines.
According to him, “I am happy to let you know that we now have the full support of the National Security Adviser (NSA) with the Chief of Army Staff and the Chief of the Air Staff to provide adequate security and ensure that this line ( Shiroro-Mando transmission line) is restored within a matter of days.
“Vandalism of transmission lines in Nigeria is not a new thing for us. We are all aware of the Damaturu–Kaduna line that has been vandalised several times. Even after it was fixed, a few days after, it was vandalised again.
“So, what we are appealing to every Nigerian, especially our brothers and sisters in Nigeria is to ensure that we protect this national asset, because apart from the efforts of going back and forth to fix this line, it also costs a lot of resources that otherwise could have been used for new substations for line extension and to even fix some old transformers.
“This is what we are deducing in restoring demolition of vandalised lines. The second objective of this briefing is to review all the restoration efforts that have been made and when lines will be restored to the northern part.”
