The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) in the Federal Republic of Nigeria says vandals have destroyed six of its transmission towers and also killed vigilante personnel along the 330 kilovolts double circuit Afam-Onne transmission line in River state.
A statement issued by the company noted that there have been a series of attacks on its power line, starting with one in September when vandals in Gbake community of Ogoniland, vandalised four towers, dismantled the members and carted them away.
In October, the vandals vandalised two towers on the same transmission line route and returned the third time for a similar attack when security operatives arrested nine of the vandals who had been charged in court already.
NDPHC also said during a routine patrol on 25th November, vigilantes encountered vandals again on the 330kV Afam-Onne line and one of the vigilante operatives was shot and killed.
According to media reports, the Executive Director of Corporate Services at NDPHC, Nkechi Mba, who spoke about the said incident, consoled the families of the victim while extolling his gallantry.
“We will be relentless in hunting these vandals down, particularly those who assassinated the young man.”
She called on communities to collaborate with security operatives to tackle cases of vandalism.
“The infrastructure that governments develop is done with taxpayers’ money and is, therefore, owned by the people. Public infrastructure is our commonwealth, and we should strive to jointly protect it,” Mba noted.
The NDPHC official noted that it would continue to work with security operatives to protect critical assets.
“The company will ensure that anyone caught vandalising our assets will be made to face severe legal sanctions,” she noted.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com