The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has called for the establishment of “power rangers” to see the protection of the nation’s power infrastructures.
This was as the Federal Government sounded a note of warning to tower vandals to desist from vandalising transmission towers or face its wrath.
On Wednesday, two towers, T193 and T194 along the 330 kilovolts single circuit transmission line, were destroyed by vandals while three towers, T193, T194 and T195, were destroyed on December 28, 2023, using improvised explosive devices in Borno State.
Speaking on Friday at the Passing Out Parade and inauguration of the second batch of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps Mining Marshals in Abuja, the minister described the spate of vandalisation of power infrastructure as “economic terrorism” which deserves stringent action.
He said, “I will speak with my brother, the Minister of Power, the rate of vandalism, of economic terrorism going on with our transmission lines, have to be looked into.
“It is your job to make sure that no critical asset of government is destroyed and we are ready and I believe NSCDC is up to the task.”
He also urged the Commandant General of the NSCDC to set up a squad that would wage war against power vandals.
Tunji-Ojo said, “The next time I come here, I want to see my Power Rangers, I mean people that will protect our distribution lines, people that will protect our Gencos people that will protect every power sector. It is not reasonable, it’s not acceptable for a country like Nigeria to spend billions of dollars on power infrastructure all for it to be vandalized no country grows or develops without the power sector so NSCDC it is time for you to play your part.
“I have decided that the solution towards you accomplishing your mandate is sectorisation of your responsibility.”
Tunji-Ojo also assured Nigerians that the country would do everything it takes to win the war against illegal miners.
He said, “Today, I can tell you the revenue from the solid mineral sector is not where it used to be, it has improved. The security in terms of our mines has improved and of course, Nigeria is a big country therefore, we need to train more, we need to deploy more personnel to make sure that all our mines and all critical assets of Nigeria are well protected.
“We have seen that there is no solution to our problems that Nigerians cannot prefer yes we’ve not yet won the war but we know we will win the war.”
The Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake who was represented by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mary Ogbe warned illegal miners to formalise their activities.
He said, “Let me warn illegal miners to embrace the bold initiative of the administration of the president by formalizing their activities through the formation of cooperatives. The alternative is to face the dire consequences of prosecution for land degradation and illegal operations.”
The NSCDC Commandant General, Ahmed Audi noted that one of the major challenges in the mining sector is illegal mining being undertaken by mostly artisans who operate without state permission.
“The aforementioned therefore underscores the need to place adequate security measures. This intensive training programme which is continuous, therefore becomes absolutely necessary to add value and bite to the fight against criminality, especially illegal mining,” he added
