Electricity installation vandalism on the rise in Abuja

More than 34 cases of vandalism of electricity installations have been reported in the past 10 months in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Suspected vandals have been arrested by the police and officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) at various locations in an attempt to rid the territory of these vandals […]

More than 34 cases of vandalism of electricity installations have been reported in the past 10 months in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Suspected vandals have been arrested by the police and officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) at various locations in an attempt to rid the territory of these vandals who put many areas in darkness while they enrich themselves with the proceeds from armoured cables.

The losses from vandalism is said to run into billions of naira. Not only communities are thrown into darkness but street and traffic lights go blind. Also many parts of the city centre are in darkness at night while traffic wardens are deployed to some junctions where traffic lights would have done the job.

Though police officers and NSCDC officials had severally expressed their commitment to stemming this tide, the vandals do not seem to be giving up as they are now notorious in the city centre. 

The construction of the Abuja Light Rail project was also not spared from the activities of vandals as they dug up communication installations and stole cables on the rail line.  

NSCDC officials paraded 11 vandals alleged to have been responsible for the theft of about N3.5m power installations in the Central Business District in June.

The suspects were said to be specialists in the vandalism of armoured and underground cables.

Also, the police in Maitama arrested seven vandals with two Volkswagen vehicles loaded with armoured cables in June. The suspects, aged between 19 and 31 were trying to escape with their loot when the police apprehended them. 

Four vandals were also arrested in Apo with several armoured cables in the same month.

 Five vandals were arrested in Dutse-Apo last September while vandalising electrical cables. 

87 pieces of electrical cables, a giant cutting machine and a Volkswagen vehicle were recovered from them. 

In May, NSCDC officials also arrested three suspected vandals for stealing and selling armoured cables in Kwali and Dei-Dei.

Similarly, vandals were responsible for the blackout on the Kubwa expressway after they stole various sizes of armoured cables measuring about 1.7 kilometres in November 2016.

The street lights on the road had not been functioning as the vandals stole 99mm and 25mm cables for a stretch of 1.2 kilometres between Zuba Interchange and the army check point at Dei-Dei. They also vandalised 99mm and 25mm cables between Muhammad Abubakar Police Barracks, Jibi, and the police check point before the railway overhead bridge.

Garki is another location where the vandals have carried out their activities. Two vandals were caught in the act in Area 8 in January and were tied up by residents before police came and whisked them away. 

Some of the residents of the community in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) said the damage done by vandals was not always immediately rectified even after their arrest.

One community that will live to remember the activities of vandals is Burum, which was thrown into blackout for four years after their transformer was vandalised.

A Burum resident, Isa Wakili, said for more than four years the residents lived without electricity.  

Also, some residents of Iddo Sabo, another AMAC community, report incessant cases of vandalism in the community.

 The residents said some time back vandals left the community in blackout when they stole armoured cables and the earth wires from transformers.

Samuel G. Ishaya, leader of the community’s vigilante, told our reporter that the items were all stolen by the suspected vandals at night.

The vandals are not always that lucky as some of them get caught in the act. Residents are now conscious of the activities of vandals. 

In 2016, two suspected vandals were apprehended in Anagada, a community in Gwagwalada Area Council, and were tied to a transformer over night. 

 Meanwhile, the Director of Risk and Compliance, Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Collins Chabuka, has appealed to customers to help track down suspected vandals as they would be rewarded in line with the company’s new whistle-blowing policy.

 “We are very pleased that we can parade these vandals. They have actually been a nuisance to our operations; we are also grateful for the security partnership with the agencies we are working with, the civil defence and the police, so that we can pull down this issue of vandalism.

 “We are able to identify first that these are AEDC cables and secondly we have valued these cables to be about N3.5m.

 “If you look at the subsequent arrests that have been made, it entails that more money has been lost. The biggest cost and concern we have is the cost of replacing the cables which are very expensive. Time also is not on our side because our customers usually have a high down time and that means that we are frustrated.

 “We lose revenues on two situations: the cost of replacement and the cost of revenue that we are expecting from our customers. This is a good thing we are doing with our security agencies and we hope to crack down these gangs. We are not stopping on these ones; we will go ahead and do more partnerships.

 “The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, recently spoke about the whistle-blowing policy coming into the power sector. AEDC has already adopted this.  Any person who comes forward with tangible information that will lead to making more arrests of vandals will be rewarded by the company,” Chabuka explained.