A part of Mabushi community in the Mabushi Cadastral zone of the Federal Capital Territory, ?has for much of the past four weeks, remained without power from the national source, no thanks to some hoodlums who carted away some PHCN installed cables in the area.
LEADERSHIP SUNDAY gathered that following this incidence, most residents are resorting to the now made famous generator sets and incurring much on fuelling which has also not been fair enough, considering the health hazards the generators posed to the people using them.
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Apart from grappling with the deafening noise emanating from these generating sets and other fallouts of the blackout, the residents also battle with the issue of water supply. They spend so much money daily to patronize the water sellers popularly known as ‘mai-ruwa’ whose borehole sources also run on generators.
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LEADERSHIP SUNDAY also gathered that the issue of vandalism has become the order of the day in the area since 2009. Apart from NNPC quarters and a few houses and companies that have their personal transformers, the cadastral zone of Mabushi is serviced by a single transformer, its ever growing polulation not withstanding.
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It was gathered that as far back as 2008, the area used to enjoy up to 22 hours of power supply in a day, but as more houses sprang up the voltage started dropping correspondingly, resulting to unnecessary power outages. The Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) however, introduced the rationing of light as a temporary check to the incessant outages.
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But this has not really solved the problem of power outages in the area in is in contrast to the NNPC quarters and some houses within the same neighbourhood where there is hardly any power failure.
The situation has been made worst by the inhuman activities of people who have now made it a habit to steal some of the cables.
In 2009 when some of the heavy duty cables were stolen from the Mabushi zone, LEADERSHIP SUNDAY gathered that almost all the houses in the affected area had to buy generators which they depended on for three months before the PHCN made the residents to contribute over half a million naira for the replacement of the stolen cables.
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This time around, it appears that some of the residents are tired of the situation and can only wait until a lasting solution is found to their problem
A landlord in the neighbourhood who claimed anonymity, told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that the electricity supply in the area was second-to-none when he relocated there in 2008. According to him, “when I came here in 2008, ?power supply was perfect. It was when the transformer was replaced that we started having power outages. ?A similar situation occurred in 2009 when one of the cables was stolen which resulted in a blackout that lasted three months.It is almost one month now that we have not had light, follwing the latest case of theft of the PHCN cables”.
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Another resident by name Shuaibu who appeared to be fed up with the light situation in told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that he would prefer to continue using his generator because he feels the rate at which bandits vandalize the transformer is alarming. He said the PHCN is always asking them (the residents) to contribute money and after one or two months the same thing would repeat itself. “When we went to lay the complaint about the blackout to the PHCN office in charge of our district, we were told that the transformer had been vandalized. We don’t know who is responsible for stealing these cables. Tell me, is it me that do not know anything about electricity that will go and steal the cable”? he asked. He went further to say that the last time such theft took place, the flat owners were made to contribute 7,000 naira each and added that he was tired of making such contributions again.
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However, another resident by name Mr. Clement Aba, told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that the residents have since resolved on the continuous use of generators as they were no longer benefitting from the public power supply source. He said, “We don’t know exactly what is happening and where the problem lies, do we continue this way? The problem lies with PHCN staff and not with government. Nobody has authority to tamper with PHCN equipment. So it is the staff that knows much about what is happening and they are the ones that have the solution to the problems, we are paying twice the expected to enjoy power supply and we would continue to pay except God intervenes”.
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The Project Manager of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Mr. Henry Anozie Igbokwe, told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY in an interview that vandalism and stealing of PHCN cables and equipment has become the order of the day across the country and this requires the urgent attention of security agencies. He said the situation has become a major concern which is not just rampant in Mabushi but also prevalent in other parts of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Igbokwe explained that two attempts have been recorded of attempts to steal the new lines constructed in Deidei, when in one instance, some thieves deliberately rammed their vehicle into some electric poles in order to knock them down and steal some of the cables but that unfortunately, the cable thieves could not cart away the materials, while in the second case, the thieves used marine ropes to tie the high tension cables together in order to bridge and snap them.
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He gave an assurance that electricity supply to Mabushi would be restored as soon as possible. According to him, “I want to tell you that the materials that would be needed for the restoration were collected on credit because we don’t have an inventory of it now since nobody expected such thing to happen. The PHCN is footing the bill and I am not aware of the fact that residents were asked to pay for previous restorations.”
Furthermore, he said all PHCN equipment are meant to serve Nigerians and he wonders how some people manage to enter the place to cart away ?some of these equipment without anyone challenging such individuals considering the fact that the power distribution sub- station is located right in the heart of the community.
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When asked about how to prevent a recurrence of the situation, he said it lies with the customers, because he cannot imagine why these people that PHCN is serving, would abandon the equipment that serve their needs to the hands of bandits. “we use these equipment to serve our customers and yet, they allow these criminals to cart away the equipment at the slightest opportunity they have. It is not proper”.
Igbokwe believes that if the vandalised transformer in Mabushi belonged to an individual, such thing would not have happened but since it is government property nobody cares about it.
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“We look forward to when our customers would be committed and see those equipment as sacred because we are really committed to serving them as best as we could. Our customers have every right to question anybody they see working on any of the equipment which we have placed to serve them.”
In addition, he said, if anyone notices any suspicious movements around any transformer, he or she should not hesitate to raise alarm because vandalism is perpetrated by man and is avoidable.
