News
TCN Laments Rising Right-Of-Way Obstructions, Transformer Vandalism
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Port Harcourt Region, has raised the alarm over the rising interference on its lines right-of-way across communities within its six mandate states.
The company said this situation, coupled with the vandalisation and stealing of its equipment in Rivers, Imo, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, and Bayelsa states, poses a huge challenge to power transportation.
To this end, the company called on the Federal Government to deploy military personnel and operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps to help secure power stations.
The General Manager, TCN, Port Harcourt Region, Dr. Inugonum Thomas, stated this while speaking with newsmen shortly after a guided tour of facilities at the company in Port Harcourt, last Friday.
Thomas stated that the transmission sector is very important in the power chain, which underscores the need for the transmission lines to be safe at all times.
He, however, said, “Many times we suffer from people attacking the transmission lines, destroying it, removing parts of the towers, making us not to have the transportation done easily.
“I remember sometimes when I joined my colleagues in the bushes to see these failed transmission lines and what had caused it. We saw some hoodlums even attacking the gas pipeline as well as our own transmission lines. If we were not lucky that day, they would have shot us. So, vandalisation occurs virtually every time.”
Thomas said further, “The right-of-way of our transmission lines is another challenge we are having because most times the moment you come that you want to start a project, the community sees that there is movement here.
“Once they see that it is a project that is going to help them, it becomes a problem. They will want to stop it by all means. So I began to wonder, you want to give somebody food, and he said no. And he doesn’t even have the food.
“There was a particular project we wanted to construct in Akwa-Ibom. The community people dug 500 graves because they wanted to demand compensation.”
He said most times in Calabar, Cross River State, and Elelenwo in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, the firm’s transmission lines were vandalized repeatedly for two months until the intervention of security personnel.
On the consequence of such actions, Dr Thomas said, “When people are doing these evil things, they are not thinking because in the process they will kill so many people. Once that tower rests in our house, if it’s 100 houses, nobody will come out. It is as bad as that.
“So I call on the government to help us. If it means sending some military men or NSCDC to our stations so that they can monitor them, because there are some of our stations when you come they (vandals) have already cut the earth conductors for big transformers that cost almost N800,000 million.”
He explained that when these conductors are severed, technically, that machine is floating and can go into flames anytime, adding that the TCN management was executing a number of projects in the past three years because these are projects you don’t do in one year.
On his part, the Assistant General Manager, Port Sub-Region, Engr Ben Ezemobi, said the company was currently installing a 100MVA transformer, saying when added to the 180, it will become 280MW to effectively cater to the power needs of Rivers State.
Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.