Stray bullets send Maiduguri into total darkness

MAIDUGURI is in total darkness again as suspected stray bullets may have brought down the main supplies conductors supplying electricity to the town almost two weeks now.

Residents in Maiduguri who consume over 50 megawatts of electricity daily are in darkness because only few have the resources to buy petrol to power their homes or charge their phones which needs daily power supplies.

This is not the first time stray bullets or deliberate gun shots have been fired into the supply pylon strings which have impeded electricity to the Borno State capital since 2009 when the boko haram insurgency became a sad reality on residents.

Principal manager transmission company of Nigeria, Awal Gaya told Tribune Online that they were not certain if it was bullets of boko haram or soldiers which brought down the high-tension conductors.

“All we know is that the first one happened on the eighth and was restored on the tenth of this month. While we were still enjoying the supplies, this one went dead again on the thirteenth.

“This is not the first time we are having conductor cuts with the 132kva line but I wish to assure residents that we are doing all we can to ensure that we fix it so that the town will have light,” Said Gaya.

He told the Tribune Online that in just two months of fighting in the Borno theatre between boko haram and soldiers, the conductor cuts have happened over six times making it a recurring decimal.

“The latest one in which the capital has been in darkness for over a week is the second incident of bullets bringing down our conductors in two weeks.

“But let me assure you that we are on top of the situation to restore supplies. Our main problem in restoring power to the town is insurgency.

“In this case, our men have been able to identify where the conductor was destroyed but we can’t do the job alone because of the risk of being killed by the Boko Haram. We need to arrange for escort and all that requires logistics.

“We have made requisitions to our office in Bauchi who will forward same to Abuja before we can be able to mobilize the Army to site to fix the damaged strings for residents to get supplies in the town.

“We cannot do the amendment without logistics and military escorts. And you know the effect of the TSA so residents will have to continue to bear with us till we get the connections back,” said Gaya of the transmission company of Nigeria.

This is not the first time Maiduguri is suffering from long dark nights, from the 132 KVA supplies coming from Gombe through Damboa which is the only route available for now to light up the entire town and the University.

The alternative which is the 330kva which should come from Damaturu to Molai is yet to come to boast supplies in the Borno State capital which is housing triple it’s population capacity now.

Gaya said that Maiduguri could take more supplies from what it is getting now but for the myriads of weak points along the major supply routes, they have been careful not to over load the strings and transformers here until the distribution network is improved upon.

“Our greatest problem here is insurgency. Before the advent of insurgency, we used to supply through Damasak to Niger Republic but now we don’t have that capacity anymore because they have destroyed most of our supply routes.

“To restore electricity to Damboa, we have installed a mobile transformer because all the 132kva transformers were completely destroyed by Boko haram in 2014.

“We have also made requisition for the 45 megawatts transformer in Maiduguri to be upgraded to sixty so that we can be able to meet up to the present challenges in the state. Another 132 transformers are planned for Monguno and Bama as soon as it is safe to so,” Revealed the manager.

Last year, the insurgents had planted a time bomb on a high-tension pylon and had brought it down leaving the Borno State capital in darkness for about six months because it took a long time for Nigerian engineers to fabricate another pylon which was used to restore electricity to the city.

Since the unbundle ingredients of the former power holding company of Nigeria PHCN took charge nationwide, Maiduguri has been managed by Yola Electricity which has been unable to respond to the directive of the minister of power Fashola to allocate residents with digital metres.

Thousands of residents in Maiduguri are still groaning under crazy electricity bills orchestrated by fraudulent estimated billing methods used by the new companies a dangerous prank inherited from the defunct PHCN.

Nigeria has the resources to generate over thirty thousand megawatts of electricity monthly but policy players have not demonstrated the political will to achieve this goal.