BREAKING NEWS, Power
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Irked by increase of vandalism on its equipment, the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company has appealed to stakeholders for cooperation
THE Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, EEDC, is very unhappy at the rate of vandalism going in its area. The company said it had recorded more than 50 cases of vandalism in 2015 leading to loss of hundreds of millions of naira worth of equipment and customers’ satisfaction occasioned by power outages.
The company in a statement by Eugene Aniowo, its public affairs manager, said the activities of vandals had continued to wreak havoc on electricity installations such as transformers, meters, poles, injection substations, cables and conductors within the South-East states. “The management of the company is alarmed at the rate at which these vandals destroy the company’s assets and condemn homes, businesses, institutions and communities into total electricity blackout,” Aniowo said.
He stated that the EEDC had expended substantial sums of money on the repairs and replacement of the damaged equipment and on the prosecution of arrested vandals. “Several EEDC substations and distribution transformers of different capacities ranging from 200KVA to 500KVA have been vandalised. On April 23, 2014, Oluebube Njoku, Osita Ezeugo and Ndidi Ohanwe were arrested for vandalising EEDC equipment,” he said.
According to the company’s public relations officer, armoured cables were vandalised in several parts of the state for which many culprits were arrested between April last year and August this year.
“However, while some suspected vandals have been electrocuted to death, some surviving culprits are currently under investigation, while others had bagged different years of jail terms of two, five, and possibilities of 15 and 21 years imprisonment, as the Nigeria Police partners with the community leaders and other law enforcement agencies to ensure the immediate prosecution and delivery of justice, and also to bring an end to this menace,” the statement said further.
It, therefore, solicited the support and partnership of all the people of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states in rooting out vandals and vandalism in the South-East.
The management of the EEDC also used the opportunity to advise the general public to desist from activities, such as building or trading under the electricity transmission or distribution lines, transformers, substations and other utility properties, to avoid being electrocuted.
— Sep 7, 2015 @ 14:30 GMT
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