NSCDC, AEDC parade 11 power sector vandals

The Abuja Electricity Distribu­tion Company (AEDC) has appealed to the public to re­port individuals involved in the theft and vandalism of electricity installa­tions in its franchise area.

 

The company said whistle blow­ing was a critical way the public could help in safe guarding power installa­tion in the country.

 

The company said it will reward those who provide concrete infor­mation that leads to the arrest of van­dals and those trading on stolen pow­er equipment.

 

AEDC Director Risk and Compli­ance, Collins Chabuka, made the ap­peal in Abuja at the FCT Command of the Nigerian Security and Civil De­fence Corps (NSCDC) where eleven persons were paraded for vandalism and trading in stolen amoured cables belonging to the utility firm.

 

According to him, “We are able to indentify first that these are AEDC cables and secondly we have valued these cables to be about N3.5 million. This is a one off arrest and is look at past arrests it entails that more mon­ey has been lost.

 

“The biggest cost and concern we have is the cost of replacing the ca­bles which are very expensive. Time also is not on our side because the customers are frustrated because of high down time.

 

“We lose revenues on two fronts, the cost of replacement and the cost of revenue that we would received from our customers”.

 

Earlier, the Commandant of FCT Command of NSCDC, Patrick Uk­pan said the suspects specialize in the vandalism of armoured cables and underground cables with in the Fed­eral Capital Territory (FCT).

 

Ukpan said they were caught van­dalising cable in the Central Area Dis­trict of Abuja where most federal gov­ernment offices are located including the Three Arm Zone.

 

He said a Golf VW car was also re­covered from another set of vandals who abandoned it when accosted by NSCDC officers.

 

He explained that the all-male sus­pects whose age range from 19 to 36 years would be charged to court as soon as investigations were com­pleted.-The Authority