*Adebayo Adelabu, Minister for Power, discloses the Federal Government is currently exploring alternative routes to effect restoration of electricity to affected parts of Northern Nigeria, stating, ‘we are hoping that in a matter of days, light will be restored to the North’

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

Following the recent blackouts in the region, the Federal Government has assured electricity consumers of full power restoration to Northern Nigeria.

绿帽献妻 reports Chief Adebayo Adelabu, Honourable Minister for Power, who stated this as at a media briefing Tuesday, October 29, 2024, in Abuja, FCT, said “we are exploring alternative routes, we are hoping that in a matter of days, light will be restored to the North.”

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) recently said its Shiroro-Mando transmission line, in Niger State, was damaged due to sabotage.

The development has since caused widespread blackouts in several states in the North.

Adelabu, Tuesday,聽 however, assured with the ongoing power restoration efforts in the Northern region of the country are ongoing, electricity expected to be fully restored by the end of this week.

The Minister said: “So, I can assure you that before the end of this week, light will be restored to the north.

“We are exploring alternative routes, we are hoping that in a matter of days, light will be restored to the North.”

According to him, the Federal Government will continue to work on the vandalised lines.

Adelabu also stated: “We (will) still continue to work on the vandalised lines.

“This must have actually affected a number of parts, not just lines.”

He equally noted: “Among the first parts, we know that a lot of single work needs to be carried out before the direct power can show that they are standing properly before the streaming of the light to the south.

“So, in a matter of two or three days, more than 70 to 80 per cent of the northern part, which is affected, will have light. That is the assurance that we give you.”

The Minister said: “This is not the first time we will be having issues in that line.

“We鈥檝e had vandalism there before but nobody noticed it because we fixed it within days.

“But this time it was more severe and the repairs were delayed because of security threats.鈥�

He further explained that the vandalisation of transmission equipment in the North is not strange.

The Minister stated: “We鈥檙e only appealing to our brothers to help us protect these equipments because the resources that could have been used for other projects are being channeled into repairing the vandalised infrastructure. “We鈥檙e working and hopefully, light will be restored before the end of the week.

“We鈥檙e exploring alternative solutions while we continue to work to fix the vandalised towers.”

Stiffer penalties for damage to Critical National Infrastructure

Chief Adelabu said that there is a bill before the National Assembly (NASS), Abuja, for capital punishment for perpetrators of vandalism of any of the designated Critical National Infrastructure (CNI).

The Minister asserted: “We want stiffer punishment for these criminals.

“Also, we need to look at stopping the sale of scrap metals in the country.

“They are those who encourage vandalism because they buy these things from criminals cheaply.鈥�

Speaking at the briefing, Sule Abdulaziz, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (CES) of TCN, recalled how the Shiroro-Mando 330kv line 1 tripped 9 September this year.

Abdulaziz confirmed that the patrol of the safe area was done, but the faulty section could not be reached due to insecurity.

He stated: “Efforts were made by using local vigilantes, who confirmed a snap conductor on a tower but they could not identify the tower number.

“Arrangements were made to use the local group to escort our engineers in the night to effect repairs in order to evade the bandits in the location.”

He, however, said: “Unfortunately, we did not succeed because the bandits got wind of our intentions and laid siege to the area.”

According to TCN Chief, minimum supply was maintained to the North-west corridor through the second circuit until 13th October when the second line tripped and failed to stay on the trial reclosure.

He disclosed that local vigilantes, again, were engaged to comb the area, but could only access part of the safe area.

The TCN later solicited the support of the Nigeria Air force, Kaduna for unmanned aerial surveillance 17th October, and the impacted towers were identified.

The Managing Director added: “They were four in number with three totally collapsed and one number twisted.鈥�

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