NDPHC decries incessant vandalism of transmission facilities
***** Vandals destroy six transmission towers, kill vigilante in Rivers
By Yunus Yusuf
The Exevutive Director , Corporate Services, Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC) Mrs Nkechi Mba has decried the incessant vandalisation of NDPHC transmission facilities thereby worsening power wheeling ability across the country.
Mba who expressed this concern over the activities of vandals on its facilities also sympathised with the family of the security officer who was killed in the recent attack stressing that the company will do everything humanly possible to support the family of the dieseased who died in active service to his fatherland.
She said NDPHC will support them in this moment of grief.
“The company is grateful for his gallantry in the line of duty and we hereby pledge support for his family in this moment of great sorrow”, she stated .
“We will be relentless in hunting these vandals down, particularly those who assassinated the young man.” she stressed.
According to her, “the necessity of re-enforcing the message of communal ownership of critical infrastructure cannot be over emphasized. The infrastructure that governments develop is done with taxpayers’ money and is therefore owned by the people.”
She appealed to members of the public to regard “public infrastructure as our commonwealth and strive to jointly always protect it.”
Mba expressed gratitude to law enforcement agents for their continuous support in trying to engage and deter economic criminals who vandalise NDPHC assets, saying the company “will ensure that the culprits are brought to face the full weight of the law.
This was contained in a statement issued by Special Adviser on Media to NDPHC Managing Director/CEO Adesanya Adejokun
According to the statement, 6 transmission towers were vandalised with a spate of three months and a security officer or vigilante killed in Rivers state.
He said On September 3, 2022, some miscreants attacked and vandalized the 330kV DC Afam – Onne Transmission Line in Gbake community of Ogoniland, River State. The vandals cut down four Transmission Towers (T19, T20, T21 and T22), dismantled and carted them away.
“Again, on October 10, 2022, the vandals attacked and vandalized two additional towers on the same 330kV DC Afam – Onne Transmission Line. During a third attempt luck, however, ran out on them as efforts of vigilante members, buoyed by security operatives paid off, resulting in the arrest of nine of the miscreants. They have since been charged to court to face the full wrath of the law.”
According to him during a routine patrol in the night of November 25, 2022, vigilantes again encountered vandals along the same Afam-Onne 330kV DC Transmission Line. The vigilantes called for military reinforcement but before help came, one of the guards was shot and later died.
Incidentally, this line is the one connecting Afam to Onne in Port Harcourt and it is the first 330kV Double Circuit (DC) Transmission supply line to the capital of Rivers State.
The statement said the persistent attacks on the lines have caused substantial damage to the transmission line project and it will take huge sums of money to effect needed reconstruction and repairs in addition to resultant delays on delivery time.
