Blackout in North: Senate expresses concerns over spate of vandalism

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Blackout in North: Senate expresses concerns over spate of vandalism

The Nigerian Senate has expressed concern over the spate of vandalism of power lines that led to total blackout in the northern states, particularly Kano, Jigawa, Katsina and other North West areas.

While presiding over plenary on Tuesday, the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, lamented the long period of power outages and informed lawmakers in the upper legislative chamber that the situation calls for concern.

Barau explained that restoring the vandalised transmission line became pretty difficult because the specific area of vandalism was terrorist-infested; hence, it wasn’t safe for the staff of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, to work on restoration.

According to him, the destroyed high-tension cable was the single runway that supplies power to the North but he added that security agents are currently working to ensure the lines are restored.

He said: “Let me seize the opportunity to inform the Senate that the leadership of the Senate is concerned about the lack of electricity supply in the northern part of this country. This is because the transmission line, which supplies power to the North, has been vandalised.

“And it has become a problem for the TCN staff to get it restored because that area is being occupied by terrorists, though security agencies are working to get to the spot and eradicate or remove the threat that has been there for a while.”

While he was silent on what security agencies were doing around the area, he expressed optimism that the threat would be removed soon.

“It’s an arrangement that will not be said to the public because that would compromise the arrangement or the preparation the security agencies are making to deal with the matter,” he said, noting that President Tinubu has ordered security agents to curtail the threats.

Barau added: “The National Security Adviser is on top of the issue. We’ve been discussing this with him. I have been talking with the National Security Adviser. I have been talking with the TCN Managing Director.

“The place is being occupied by terrorists who are well-armed to the teeth. So, the security agencies are preparing to strike the area and get that threat out of that place.”