PHCN’s cables of death

Even though  it  was   Easter,  it   was  a  black  Sunday   at  Wilson  Housing  Estate,  Benin  city  in  Edo  State  when  three  people  died  and  property  worth  millions  of  naira were  destroyed  because of  faulty  Power  Holdings  Company  of  Nigeria (PHCN) cables. The electrocution at the housing estate, eyewitnesses alleged, followed the explosion of a transformer […]

Even though  it  was   Easter,  it   was  a  black  Sunday   at  Wilson  Housing  Estate,  Benin  city  in  Edo  State  when  three  people  died  and  property  worth  millions  of  naira were  destroyed  because of  faulty  Power  Holdings  Company  of  Nigeria (PHCN) cables. The electrocution at the housing estate, eyewitnesses alleged, followed the explosion of a transformer belonging to the PHCN which served the area.

Among those killed was a pensioner, Mr. Isaac Ojor Legogie, an eighteen-year-old girl identified as Miss Lizzy Adogamhe and a yet-to-be-identified middle-aged man. Eldest son of the late Legogie, Mr. Benjamin, recalling the incident, said there was pandemonium at the estate following the explosion of the PHCN transformer serving the estate which was engulfed by fire. “We learnt that the circuit breakers that would have prevented the occurrence of fire were removed before now for no reason by PHCN officials. The absence of the circuit breakers led to the re-direction of electricity to all houses in the estate. “So, all the electrical appliances in all the houses in the area were on fire. There was pandemonium in the area and people were running helter-skelter, and my father, in the process of going to assist a neighbor to put out the fire that engulfed his house, ran into a pool of water that had gathered on the ground and was electrocuted.”

Another victim was 18-year-old Lizzy Adogamhe who was electrocuted while trying to access the refrigerator.

Angered by PHCN’S response

The residents of the estate alleged that when the PHCN officials were called in they simply came and removed the fuse in the transformers and left. They are angered by the fact that there was no apology from officials for the negligence that caused such trauma.

Said the younger Legogie, whose father was killed by the electrocutions: “We are demanding that PHCN should be held responsible for the deaths and must pay compensation to the families of the deceased in addition to offering a public apology to us.”

The Edo State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Mr. Peter Ogboi said that he was yet to be briefed by the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Etete Police Station about the deaths that occurred. He said, however, that the police will be carrying out investigations about what led to the explosion of the transformer at the estate.

PHCN Public Relations Manager, Benin Distribution Zone, Mrs. Grace Nwobodo said in defense of the electricity company  that   the  electrocution   was  not  as  a  result  of  the  explosion  of the  PHCN  transmitter,  insisting  that  the  transmitter  has  no  problem.  She said the explosion of the transformer was as a result of lightning. She also blamed the owners of the estate for failing to put in place proper electrical safety devices for the estate. She absolved PHCN of any blame, saying,  “We  have  a  responsibility  to  the  customer  but  that  responsibility  ends  at  the  metre  point.  From there, electrical wirings should be done by a licensed electrical contractor.”

“This is a sad episode that would not be allowed to repeat itself. If the proper safety regulations had been followed, this would never have happened,” said Mr. Alex Okoh, the Edo State Commissioner for Works. “Government will investigate what led to the power surge with a view to bringing those indicted to book. We cannot continue to toy with the dear lives of our citizens. Life is precious and nobody knows who can be affected tomorrow by the negligence of those charged to do their duties. We will also ensure that the appropriate safety regulations are adhered to strictly so that there is no repeat of this kind of incident again, anywhere in the state.”

A common occurrence

The Edo tragedy is only the latest in what is gradually becoming another multiple killer of people in addition to the well-known ones like petroleum pipeline explosions, road accidents and building collapse, all claiming several lives at a time as a result of the negligence of safety habits by both officials of utility companies and people who are ignorant of the danger they are exposed to. A similar negligence of electricity safety claimed the lives of 30 people at a time at the Trans Amadi Industrial Layout in Port Harcourt, Rivers State when a dangling PHCN cable snapped and dropped on a commuter bus.

Yet Nigerians seem not to have been awakened to the peril posed by high-tension overhead cables of PHCN around the country. Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, without doubt probably has the highest cases of dangling PHCN cables and the number is increasing at a rapid rate. It is commonplace in the city to find the cables carelessly exposed, while illegal or unfit structures are erected underneath. “The case of dangling PHCN cables is nothing new here. It is a tradition which residents here are fast adhering to. Life under these cables seems fascinating as you can see many structures erected there where people sleep or relax,” said Mr. Sola Dare, a resident of Mushin, Lagos. “We are short of words in recent times to the authorities to bring normalcy to the situation.”

 Life under the dangling cables is not limited to Mushin but also include areas like Okokomaiko, Lagos Island, Orile, Agbado, Bariga, Iyana oworo, Oshodi and its environs.

Even to the naked eyes, the PHCN cables are a clear warning of death just being inches away with the way they are left carelessly dangling. There is another pressing danger posed by the PHCN cables beyond their careless dangling above the heads of passing people in residential areas. It is the fact that most of the PHCN’s overhead wires, stretching for several kilometres within the cities and along inter-state highways, have been in place for decades and have exceeded their life spans.

Mr. Suleiman Hassan, a lecturer at the Lagos State University, Ojo, said: “The authorities should be concerned with checking the life span of these cables and replacing them accordingly on exceeding their life span. But what we have is “patch-patch” and “manage-manage” syndrome, which has continued to dispatch many Nigerians to the great beyond.’’

But the PHCN officials said the case of dangling cables is not entirely their fault after all. Principal Manager, Public Affairs, Eko Distribution Zone of the PHCN, Godwin Idemudia said that sometimes vandals are the architects of these dangling cables.

“We all should be duty-bound to keep vigil on PHCN’s facilities. It is a public property and we all must protect them. And we will do our part to correct and normalize the dangling cables,’’ he said.

Also, the Principal Manager, Public Affairs of Ikeja Distribution Zone of the PHCN, Pekun Adeyanju said the zone has identified the dangling cables and had last week commenced their replacement.

The issue of vandals tampering with installations is the major problem that causes electrocution in Kano, another of Nigeria’s largest cities, said the Public Affairs Manager of PHCN, Kano Muktar Baffa Usman. He said that last year the company recorded two cases of electrocution in the Kano Zone and each of the cases had to do with vandals trying to tamper with the equipment and the illegal restoration of power resulting in their electrocution.

He said: “Efforts are made by the management of the PHCN to curb the menace and to also reduce natural occurrence where people, especially pedestrians, are affected by fallen electric poles or other forms of accidents by insisting on strong equipments and ensuring the safety standards of electricity appliances are put in place.”

 Lukman Abdulaziz, an electrical works specialist, said the problem is the ignorance of the process. He said that most people don’t even know the danger of coming close to electricity, and may not know what to use as insulators. “Accidents happen maybe with the assumption from the control room that all is well when people might be near the place,” he said.

A bad public attitude

Even though it is the public that is at the receiving end of the cable disasters, little has changed in their attitude to the danger facing them. For some time now, houses and business centres are springing up close to high tension cables of the PHCN. This is the case in Kaduna State like most other cities in the country, despite the danger inherent in living close to the cables.

In Kurmin Mashi and Kabala West areas in Kaduna, houses are being erected close to the cables. Said the PHCN Head of Public Relation Unit of Kaduna, Mr. Baba Limmy: “Those living close to our cables are also exposed to radiation, which medical practitioners say can cause skin cancer and this is why we keep telling Nigerians not to build houses in any form close to these cables.’’

He said houses and shops are being erected in areas declared by the PHCN as danger zone by unscrupulous landlords. “Those doing these are growing by the day. 330 kv line is the highest one and it is very dangerous, but go round and you will see houses and schools erected right under.”

 A good case in point is a 3-story building that was erected over twenty years ago by a business magnate close to a PHCN high tension cable in Kabala West bus stop in Kaduna. When the building reached the first floor the government of the state advised the owner to stop work but he refused and continued till the 3rd floor. Since the completion of the building, it is empty as PHCN barred its owner from connecting electricity. But some few years ago, an Islamic organisation, Salam-Salam International School was given the building for free. The authorities have been warning the management of the school to leave the building and stop exposing the lives of the students to danger.

A man who lived within the vicinity of the school, Alhaji Hussaini Maishayi said he was in the area when the foundation of the building was laid and said the owner of the house erected it despite pressure not to.

“After completing the building, he attempted to connect electricity but he was stopped. The officials of NEPA (former name of the PHCN) came with their equipment, after series of examination, they told him not to and he was even warned not to use a generator in the house and they left.”

He recalled that during the laying of rods on the first floor of the building, the cable sparked and the people laying it quit work for safety. But the irony is the building is housing some hundred students or more at the moment. Are we waiting for another disaster to strike before we act? The same question can be asked at many, many more Nigerian cities.