WATCH THE VIDEO HERE The Federal Government has announced plans to actively engage communities across Nigeria in efforts to curb the rampant vandalism of electricity assets, a major cause of grid collapses. This was disclosed by Adedayo Olowoniyi, Chief Technical Adviser to the Minister of Power, during an interview on Arise TV’s Prime Time. Olowoniyi highlighted the complexity of addressing grid collapses, attributing them to multiple factors, including aging infrastructure and persistent vandalism. He stated, “It’s very difficult to give a specific timeline [as to when grid collapses will stop] because the issues of grid collapse are multi-fronts. One, you have the aging assets that require significant investments. And on the other side, for an already fragile grid, you now have the impacts of vandalization. So, it’s always a very difficult balance to pick when will grid collapse stop.” To address these challenges, Olowoniyi noted that the federal government is making “significant strides in investing in the national grid to ensure further reliability.” “The Honourable Minister has thought of different ways to see how to engage those communities to see how they can also be part of protecting those assets. That will be the quickest way to actually arrest a lot of the level of vandalism that we’ve seen across the country,” he said. Adelabu stated that most 2024 incidents resulted from vandalism and theft of power equipment. “The Federal Government is taking the issue seriously, requiring urgent attention,” he said. Key Highlights:
FG to engage communities to protect electricity assets from vandalism across Nigeria
