By Kenneth Onuoha
365Daily – Over 50 communities in Enugu and Ebonyi States have been thrown into darkness following the vandalism of Amechi – Awgu 33KV mainline.
The vandalised item is the property of the Enugu Electricity Distribution PLC (EEDC), which supplies electricity to the affected communities.
The vandalism, which occurred at Nenwe Junction down to the World University in Aninri Local Government Area, involved the removal of about 40 spans of aluminum conductors on the line, as well as the collapse and damage of 15 High Tension poles.
This development was made known in Enugu on Thursday by the Head, Corporate Communications, EEDC, Emeka Ezeh.
Ezeh regrettably stated that this part of the network has been under attack by vandals since January this year, and the present incident reoccurred barely two weeks after the company had spent millions of Naira in replacing the vandalised items.
“This portion of the network was attacked in January, February, and twice in April, which has led to the present darkness experienced by electricity customers in these affected communities, as about 130 distribution substations (transformers) are affected and cannot supply electricity to customers,” he stated.
According to EEDC’s Spokesman, the entire communities in Aninri Local Government Area, over 50 per cent of the communities in Awgu Local Government Area and Akaeze and Ishiagu under Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State were affected by the ugly incident.
Some of the affected communities include Mgbowo, Ugwuleshi Awgu, Ogwuofia Awgu, Obodo Asaa Awgu, Ogwumabiri Awgu, Obeagu, Nmaku, Mgbidi, Ihe, Okpanku, Mpu, to mention but a few.
“As a business, we are concerned about the inconveniences our customers in the affected communities are subjected to, its effect on their various businesses and the revenue losses we are recording as a service provider,” Ezeh added.
He added that vandalism of power installations within the EEDC’s network has remained a clog in the wheel of progress as no day passes without an incident of vandalism in one or two locations within the network.
Transformer vandalism is more rampant, the Spokesman added, but more cases where some spans of the network are vandalized, keeping hundreds of thousands of customers in darkness, have been recorded In recent times.
Ezeh appealed to all electricity customers and the public, especially neighbourhood vigilantes to help in safeguarding the power installations serving them.