Reps urge Interior Ministry to provide adequate security for transmission towers
The House of Representatives has urged the federal government through the Ministry of Interior to urgently provide adequate security for transmission towers across the country to avoid vandalism.
The House mandated the Committees on Interior and Power to ensure compliance.
These resolutions followed the adoption of a motion of urgent importance on the need for the federal government to provide adequate security for transmission towers in Rivers and Bayelsa States as well as the country in general.
The motion was sponsored by Hon Oboku Abonsizibe Oforji.
The House noted that on July 29, 2024, residents of Yenagoa and Bayelsa State, in general, woke up to a total blackout occasioned by the collapse of a Transmission Station between Emezhi and Mbaima in Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State and three others between Igbogene and Nedugo Agbia in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
It also noted that the Bayelsa State Government in collaboration with the Transmission Company of Nigeria, swiftly swung into action to address these challenges that have culminated in the dwindling of socio-economic activities in the state.
The House was saddened that on the 19th of November, 2024, just as the work was nearing completion, at Ula-Akpata, in Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State, some hoodlums went and vandalised a section of the lines.
It was disturbed that by this development, the woes of the residents of Bayelsa State still subsist for one or two days because as we speak the people of the State are in total blackout, this has been the situation for over 4 months.
The House said it was cognizant that the efforts of the Bayelsa State Government in mobilising financial and material resources to support the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is highly commended.
However, it said, proactive measures must be taken to forestall future occurrences of vandalism of these Transmission Towers.
‘As a representative of my people this brings to mind the provisions of Chapter II of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) which talks about our economic and social rights as citizens, which I believe should not be taken for granted by the government,” Oforji’s motion reads.
