VANDALISATION OF ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS IN NIGERIA SOUTHEAST STAKEHOLDERS GATHER IN UMUAHIA TO PROFFER SOLUTIONS David Maduako –Umuahia

VANDALISATION OF ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS IN NIGERIA SOUTHEAST STAKEHOLDERS GATHER IN UMUAHIA TO PROFFER SOLUTIONS

David Maduako –Umuahia

Vandalization of Electrical Lines and Installations nation wide have become a topical issue of national discuss and concern and a source of worry to the nation and major Stakeholders in the electricity industry .

Just very recently the Nigeria Energy Support Programme 111 Abuja , Organised a workshop for South East Zone Stakeholders at Rixos Hotel Umuahia which brought together major Stakeholders in the electrical industry to brainstorm on the causes of vandalization of Electrical Lines and Installations accross the nation and the solutions thereof , to stop this nemesis .

Hon. Emeka Onyegbule Chairman Abia State Electricity Regulation AUthority ASERA

Several stake holders present at the event made very meaningful contributions on what should be done to curb Electrical Lines and Installations vandalism in Nigeria .

A major Stakeholder in the electricity industry from Abía State the Chairman of Abía State Electricity Regulatory Authority ASERA Hon. Emeka Onyegbule made some far reaching inputs on how to attack the issue of vandalism and put a stop to it , in the entire country . According to him government’ should promulgate laws against acts of vandalism . He stated that Abía State government has electricity law of 2015 that prohibits acts of vandalism and bring Vandals to book , so bringing such laws to bear , nation wide will curb the excesses of vandals. He again posited that using the local vigilantees in conjunction with the police to patrol and monitor these lines and the Infrastructure , will go a long way to keep these infrastructures safe, this he said is a very strategic strategy adopted by the Abia state governor Dr Alex Óttï which has continued to yield positive fruits in this regard . The governor do post security men to strategic locations to among other things secure the Installations . Emulating such acts Hon . Onyegbule said would also go along way to protect these installations .

He strongly stated that the use of technology would be another workable option. He said some countries are using technology effectively to keep their installations safe . Hon. Onyegbule also agreed that Traditional Rulers should be empowered to help monitor the facilities that fall within their domain.

He was quick to state that getting the Youths engaged for a better means of livelihood would help to ameliorate this cancaworm called vandalism . He noted that the issue of vandalism and other such crimes are very minimal in Abía state due to the proactive nature of the state governor who he said initiated several youth programs such as the Tech Rise a digital training program for Youths , the Booth camp exercise , Foot ball competitions , Agricultural sponsorship programmes for Youths among several other such programmes meant to engage and better the lives of youths in the state .with these programmes Abía Youths are quite too busy to engage in such crime as vandalism. These does not mean that such crimes do not exist but they are very minimal , he stated.

Another Contributor from Anambra state Mr. Jude Nweke opined that armed security men should be employed to man the lines and the installations saying that some of these vandals move with arms and it could be very risky and inappropriate for unarmed security personnels to accost armed Vandals.

A traditional ruler from Ossah Ibeku, the Ochima 1 of Ossah ancient kingdom said traditional rulers should be involved in the security of installations within their jurisdiction . He was of the opinion that traditional rulers if well empowered, would assuredly secure these lines and the installations .

Eze Rexford Ohaeri of Mbaocha autonomous Community said government’ should recognize the traditional rulers and their Communities as owners of these facilities and do what they are supposed to do, so that traditional rulers would be enabled to protect these Infrastructures without much ado .

A youth from Ebonyi state called on the organisations that carry out these Installations to look inward and investigate their workers saying their workers knows all about these transformers and lines , and Know how to demobilize them and uninstall and cart away the properties , they know where to sell their loots so they could be responsible for the vandalisation of the facilities .

The Anchor person of the Program expressed his appreciation to all the Participants, promising that they would carry out a thorough study of all the solutions and suggestions to know the next step to follow to tackle the issue of vandalism of electrical installations in Nigeria.
End .