The Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) says Cross River will be too hot for vandals of public infrastructure in the state.
Commandant Charles Brown of NSCDC Cross River command said this on Thursday in Calabar while parading a 40-year-old streetlight vandal in Calabar.
Brown said the suspect, identified as Ibrahim Sani, was arrested on MCC Road in Calabar, destroying armoured cables and flexible wires of street lights in the area.
According to him, this act, which used to be recurrent, was being checked as the corp had in the last 14 months, ensured the prosecution of 14 cases all related to vandalisation of critical infrastructures.
“The suspect confessed that he sells what he steals to scrap metal dealers and we invited some of them but they all denied him and he was not able to identify any of them.
“We appeal to residents of Cross River to be on the lookout for any vandal of government property in their communities and report to the corps because security men are not spirits.
“Also, we need the partnership of the state government in the area of facilities so we can patrol and keep surveillance of critical and national assets in the state.,” He maintained.
He added that the suspect would be charged to court and the Judges would decide his fate.
Similarly, Mr Francis Ekpo, a member of the task force in charge of management and expansion of streetlights in Calabar, said it was disheartening that some criminals were bent on keeping the city dark to pave way for their heinous activities.
According to Ekpo, while the state government was trying to ensure that Calabar was illuminated at night, criminals go around at night to vandalised these expensive high-capacity streetlights.
“One of the most expensive infrastructure to run in the state is power because armoured cables and flex wires are very expensive, yet these criminals vandalise them for their copper content.
“I want to call on the youths in the communities in Calabar to protect public infrastructures in their neighbourhood as it is their properties.
“No stranger can come into your community and dig for armoured cables and you don’t know about it, support government to keep the state alive,” he said.
He praised the NSCDC officials for their quick response and added that the state government have a plan to evict the vandals and other criminal elements from their dens.
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