Ayo Ola
The Aba Power Project, a member of Geometric Power group, has said it has launched a campaign against vandals of its assets in nine of the 17 Local Government Areas it is serving in Abia State, according to a statement by its Patrick Umeh.
Umeh, who also is a former commissioner with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), in a statement said the campaign was also being mounted against those who steal critical components in distribution transformers, distribution infrastructure, and illegal connections as well as those who engage in meter bypassing.
Umeh said, “It is extremely difficult to understand how some individuals are so unconscionable as to put industries, whole estates, villages and other neighbourhoods in darkness by stealing wires to make spoons and trinkets”, Umeh said today in a statement in Aba, Abia State.
Umeh, who is a former executive of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Light in California, United States described the vandals as the nation’s worst economic saboteurs.
He said it is surprising why some educated and prosperous Nigerians allegedly indulge in meter bypassing through which they pay next to nothing or nothing at all for the electricity service they enjoy.
He said, “Nigeria is the country I know where a handful of individuals wilfully damage such critical public assets, only to turn round to blame the authorities for not providing basic infrastructure like electricity and for growing misery in the land.
“If people don’t pay for service provided by private electricity firms, how can they remain in business when they conduct businesses in dollar transactions?”
He promised that the campaign against electricity thieves and vandals “will be relentless and holistic.
Umeh said, “We have been holding dialogues on this extremely dangerous phenomenon with stakeholders like the Aba Chamber of Commerce, Leather Manufacturers Association, Aba Industrialists Association, Joint Action Group on Electricity, Electrical Contractors of Nigeria, community leaders, vigilante group members, security agencies and other committed stakeholders.
“Time was when the power electric sector was owned and operated by state utilities like National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) and Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) which led some Nigerians to still think that electricity is no person’s business; government business is often considered no person’s business.
“But the Aba Power Project is a $600m business by a few Igbo individuals led by Professor Bart Nnaji, a former Power Minister and world-class engineering professor who returned from the United States to dedicate his life to a revolution in Nigeria’s power sector.
“These Igbo persons want to develop their homeland, starting with Aba for the simple fact that Aba has over the decades been famous for indigenous manufacturing, commerce, and innovation.
“The Aba Power Project is an eloquent demonstration of the Igbo concepts of Aku ruo ulo (that is to say that wealth or success has no meaning until it touches one’s people in a positive and practical way) and nke a bu nke anyi (meaning this is truly ours).
“It is unfathomable that a handful of electricity consumers are willfully undermining a hugely expensive project designed to change in a profound way the development landscape of the Southeast and beyond?”