The Senate has passed a resolution urging the Federal Government to allocate funds to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), to enable it to restore power to the Jos-Gombe 330KV transmission line.
The followed the adoption of a motion by Sen. Haruna Manu (PDP-Taraba) and co- sponsored by 16 other senators on “Urgent Need to Address the Vandalisation of TCN Transmission Lines in the North-East Region of Nigeria”, at plenary on Wednesday.
Moving the motion, Manu said that that the vandalism of critical electricity transmission infrastructure posed a significant threat to the economic prosperity, public health, safety and security of the zone.
“The recent incidents of vandalisation along the Jos-Gombe 330KV transmission line have resulted in severe disruptions to power supply affecting millions of residents.
“Also affected are hospitals, commercial activities and the overall well-being of the people in Plateau, Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi, Yobe, and Borno.
“The indirect effects of power outages on food production further strain food inflation in the country, impacting the availability and affordability of agricultural products, particularly in the north-east which is a major cultivator and producer.”
Senators, while contributing to the debate on the motion, called for more attention to be given to the wellbeing of the people of the region whom they said, had suffered from long years of neglect.
Sen. Kaka Lawan (APC-Borno), informed the senate that prior to the vandalism of the towers last month, some other parts of the north-east had been without light for two years.
“The issue of the 330KV line is a recent development. Before now, many parts of the zone had been without light for two years.
“Major facilities like airports, hospitals have no light as a result of the activities of vandals,” he said.
Sen. Ahmad Lawan (APC-Yobe) recalled that as far back as the 90’s, the “UNDP categorised the north-east to be the poorest in Nigeria”, adding that, “ even today, the situation has not changed.”
He said that although the federal government had intervened in the North East Development Commission (NEDC), the agency had its own limits which would require that the government gave more attention to the zone.
Sen. Adamu Aliero (PDP-Kebbi) called for the arrest and prosecution of the vandals to serve as deterrent to other criminals.
“Let’s find out who the vandals are. It’s a crime to go and destroy social infrastructure.
“Those who are responsible for this vandalism must be punished.
I am happy that the TCN promised to restore power this weekend. I hope they will keep the promise”.
In his remarks, President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio said that darkness would create opportunities for miscreants and would wreak havoc in the communities.
“As much as possible, the TCN should immediately rise to the occasion and the federal ministry of power should ensure that power is restored to the north-east.
“This is to aid the security of lives and property which of course, remain the primary focus of government.”
He urged the Senate Committee on Legislative Compliance to follow up to know how far the resolutions of the senate were being obeyed.(NAN)