FG Proposes Capital Punishment For Electricity Vandals

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has proposed capital punishment for vandals of power infrastructure across the country.

Adelabu’s assertion followed the reoccurring vandalization of electricity infrastructure, leading to disruption in the supply of power in the country.

“The ministry of power and agencies under it is pushing for capital punishment for those involved in vandalisation and power thefts of all forms,” Adelabu revealed in Abuja.

He noted that punishment is the least measure to be implemented as vandals of power have gotten too confident in stealing transmission and distribution power assets.

“This is not only frustrating our efforts to achieve uninterrupted power supply; it is driving the nation backwards,” he said.

Adelabu also disclosed that the Ministry of Power was collaborating with the Office of the National Security Adviser and security agencies to protect them as it costs a lot of money to replace them when damaged.

Speaking on the metering gap, the power minister said the federal government is also trying to provide at least two million metres annually for five years.

He said, “We already have a seed fund of N75bn to start working. And we are also going to have some debt injection from the Nigerian Sovereign Investments Authority to complement the fund.

“There is even a possibility of increasing the fund to N100bn. We have a planned intervention to reduce the metre gap. But the Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) must also sit up.

”We need to interrogate their metering plans and give them the minimum target they must achieve in a year.”