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By Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
The Management of Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company has lamented the rising cases of vandalism of power supply infrastructure in its franchise, saying the menace is taking a serious toll on the Company’s operations.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Company on the weekend and made available to the newsmen in kaduna.
The company stated that 158 distribution sub-stations were vandalized across the four franchise states of the Company between January and June this year.
The Chief Engineering and Technical Services Officer of the Company, Engineer Bello Musa who was quoted in the statement noted that the Company lost N238,701,800:65 (two hundred and thirty eight million, seven hundred and one thousand, eight hundred naira, sixty five Kobo) worth of equipment.
Similarly, the Company lost N147,953,449:01(one hundred and forty seven million, nine hundred and fifty three thousand, four hundred and forty nine naira, one Kobo) in expected revenue during the period under review.
According to him, some of the prolonged outages and service disruption suffered by the customers are as a result of vandalism and theft of power supply assets of the Company by some selfish and criminal elements in the society.
He described the vandalism of power supply assets as “despicable act of sabotage and heinous crime against the society”.
“The destruction of critical national assets like power supply infrastructure by a few unpatriotic elements is a despicable act of sabotage, a mindless criminality and the pinnacle of irresponsibility which we must collectively fight as a society,” he said.
Engr. Bello Musa disclosed that 54 distribution sub-stations out of the 158 vandalized have been repaired and supply restored to the affected customers while efforts are being made to bring the remaining to back to service.
He called on security agencies and the prosecuting authorities to bring full weight of the law against the perpetrators of this crime.
He also appealed for more vigilance by communities and neighborhood vigilante groups so as to arrest the situation.