For ten days, the North East, North West and some parts of the North Central were in total darkness, no thanks to bandits and terrorists who have the audacity to destroy critical electrical facilities without resistance.
It is equally a great source of concern that it took so many days, and then a directive by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for those charged with the responsibility of securing the country to provide cover for engineers of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and their contractors to gain access to the “ungovernable spaces” where the carnage was done for repairs of the vandalised high-tension facilities to start.
It was the Shiroro-Kaduna transmission line that was first destroyed on Friday, October 18, 2024.
And just three days after, the 215km Ugwaji-Apir double circuit transmission line, which was resorted to as a stop-gap measure in providing electricity to the North, was also destroyed on Monday, October 21.
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TCN said the power outage in the North was because the 330 kv Ugwaji–Apir transmission lines 1 and 2 tripped “due to a fault”.
Two days later, the transmission company said its linesmen had identified the fault responsible for the power outage, but that there was apparent insecurity that was hampering prompt response.
Of course, nobody will believe that these ugly developments are accidental! They are indeed, a deliberate act of sabotage aimed at bringing down not only the North, but Nigeria as a whole. No country can survive without electricity.
Therefore, for bandits, vandals, or terrorists to have the audacity to destroy massive electricity towers with apparent disdain speaks volume of the long-held belief that they are landlords over a large swath of territory. It is time for our security forces to stop living in denial. Nigeria cannot afford losing its hold of territories to non-state actors.
It was on Wednesday, October 30, that the TCN announced a partial restoration of electricity to some parts of Nasarawa, Benue, Plateau, Kaduna, Kano, Bauchi and Gombe states.
It stated that electricity was restored to the affected areas following the successful repair of the Ugwuaji-Apir transmission line 1.
The TCN made the announcement in a statement signed by its General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah.
In another statement, Mbah said power supply has also been restored to the 330kV Gombe-Damaturu- Maiduguri 330kV transmission line.
The development came about a month after tower 372 along the 330kv transmission line was vandalised.
She said: “The vandalised tower was rebuilt, and the stringing of the line was completed on the 23rd of October, 2024, at about 12:48 pm.
“TCN was, however, unable to immediately restore bulk power supply through the line due to the vandalism of the Ugwuaji-Apir transmission line. Power supply has, however, been fully restored along the Gombe – Damaturu – Maiduguri 330kV transmission line.”
It is heartrending that up till this moment, not all the affected states that were thrown into darkness have electricity supply, which is evidently an existential problem in the region for a very long time.
We want to recall, with sadness, that Boko Haram insurgents had for over a decade held parts of the North East, especially Borno and Yobe states, to ransom. Officials have lost count of the number of times high tension towers were destroyed, forcing for instance, the Borno State government to look for other options like gas to get electricity.
Back to the latest incident in the Shiroro and Kainji areas of Niger State, it is a known fact that terrorists are holding sway for a long time. The vandalisation recorded a few days ago is, therefore, not unexpected.
If anything, it is only a stark reminder and a wakeup call to governments at the national and subnational levels, that after pauperising our villages, terrorists are on the prowl to ground the country, hence the carnage we are witnessing today.
In the last few days, millions of people in our towns and cities lived in darkness even as hundreds of medium and small-scale factories shut down because they could not afford to buy diesel.
Only God knows how many people died in hospitals and dispensaries due to lack of access to electricity to operate surgical and life-saving equipment.
Millions of families went to bed hungry and thirsty because there was no light to power boreholes and get water.
In some places, a sachet of water was sold at N200! And for those who could not afford it, they resorted to fetching the bare necessity from rivers and ponds.
Similarly, sundry criminals went berserk and destroyed transformers and even though electricity has been restored in some of the affected areas, residents would remain in darkness for another long time waiting for repairs.
These tragedies were man-made, and from available information, it is only in Nigeria that a large chunk of the population would be left in darkness without some people losing their jobs.
We, at the Daily Trust, strongly believe that beyond the ongoing repairs, our security agencies, especially the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) whose primary responsibility is protecting critical infrastructure, must rise up to the challenge.
And most importantly, northern governors who recently met in Kaduna together with traditional leaders must also match their words with action to urgently get alternative sources of power for the region.
There are enormous solar and wind options to tap from and provide electricity, which is a sine qua non to economic emancipation of the people.
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