Grid collapse: How Oku Iboku youths threw Nigeria into darkness
…vandalised N100m Hightension tower
By Moses Tom
The nationwide blackout experienced last week has been traced to the vandalisation of National Grid Hightension tower at Oku Iboku Community, Akwa Ibom State.
This was the conclusion of officials of Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, who were on fact finding mission to the scene of vandalisation on Monday, 11th April, 2022.
Leading TCN officials for on-the-spot inspection of the collapsed facility, the Regional Transmission Manager, Port Harcourt Region, Engr Daniel Udofia, accused Oku Iboku youths of masterminding the vandalisation, describing the incident which occurred on Friday, 8th April 2022 alone Odukpani-Ikot-Ekpene 330 Trnsmissiion Line as shameful.
Engr Daniel Udofia posited that the Oku Iboku Vandals have been removing bolts and nuts from the Hightension tower, thereby compromising the base of the tower, resulting in its eventual collapse.
He regretted that the incident took place in Akwa Ibom State and challenged Oku Iboku Community, particularly the youth and traditional rulers to rise to the occasion by fishing out the culprits or be held responsible.
“The situation is very bad. It’s a bad name to the state. I had said that and I will continue to say it. We have never noticed it or practised it in the state. It very unfortunate.
“I have told the youth yesterday (Sunday, 10th April, 2022) that this kind of the thing should not be mentioned in the state again. As it stands now, in Akwa Ibom State we cannot get the supply we suppose to get. Not only in Akwa Ibom State: Cross River State is completely out and the Grid is seriously affected. It is a very serious and condemnable situation which nobody should laugh at.
“As an indigene of this state I condemn this act very seriously and I am really calling on every youth to rise to the challenge. There are people in this country who are looking for facility like this but they cannot see it and when we see it we should protect it. It is not enough for somebody to come and say that we should put somebody to come and guard against it, who will guard against it? This is their own land.
“So the Oku Iboku should rise up. If they say they are not involved they should bring out people who have done it. It a bad name to the state and I condemn it,” Engr Udofia posited.
The Maging Director and Chief Executive Officers, Transmission Company of Nigeria, Engr. S. A. Abdul Aziz, who expressed sadness over the development at Oku Iboku, estimated that it will cost the Commission over 100 million naira to fix and re-energise the Line.
“This is a very sad news. You can see that this government is trying to make sure that all infrastructures, not only electricity, but also roads, hospitals and other things in this country, are working well. But see what these people are doing.
“So with this only one tower which was brought down last week, the whole nation was put in darkness, not only where I am in Akwa Ibom, but people in Kano, Katsina and Lagos also felt the effects of what happened.
“The government cannot accept this. We must make sure that we take government property as our own property. Nobody will safeguard our property (for us.) We have to make sure that it belongs to us and safeguard it.
“We are appealing to Akwa Ibom State Government to assist and work in partnership with us so that this thing not occur again,” Engr Abdul Aziz observed.
He noted although there are other causes of Grid collapse, such as fault from transmission stations, government will not tolerate any form sabotage against government efforts to provide interrupted power supply on the country.
In remark, Executive Director, Transmission Service Provider, TCN, Engr (Dr) Victor Adewunmi, condemned “the act in totality because we can’t condone this kind of the thing” and described it as sabotage.
“There is no way this country can move forward if each time we move a step forward, we take three steps backward. How can we move forward in that sense?
“Everybody needs power. The National Grid is designed in such away that even the power from this (Odukpani) Generating Station is servicing every part of Nigeria because we are operating a singular Grid.
“So you can see how callous we can be to deliberately … bring this thing down. And I want to say this is not happening only in this area. It is happening almost everywhere in this country. Even in Delta State, we had to quickly mobilise to fix about 10 towers in a roll when we saw this kind of vandalism.
“What do we want to achieve? This is outright sabotage. In other climes it doesn’t happen. So we continue to appeal to our youth, we continue to appeal to everybody, that they should own these properties,” Engr Adewunmi reasoned.
