By Onu Okorie

Transmission Company of Nigeria TCN has revealed that it is engaging the Office of the National Security Adviser NSA and the Ministry of Justice to establish a special legal framework for the prosecution of crimes against power transmission infrastructure.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of TCN, Engr. Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz, disclosed this on Thursday at the opening of a three-day workshop for energy correspondents in Abuja.

The workshop, themed “Assessing the Impact and Challenges of Transmission Network in Nigeria,” is being held at Alvari Hotel, Keffi, Nasarawa State.

Abdulaziz, who was represented by TCN’s Executive Director, Transmission Service Provider TSP, Engr. Oluwagbenga Ajiboye, said the absence of specific penalties for attacks on transmission infrastructure had emboldened vandals and contributed to the continuous destruction of towers and disruption of electricity supply across the country.

Presenting a paper titled “TCN Milestones and Challenges in Nigeria’s Power Sector,” Ajiboye said most cases involving arrested vandals were treated by the police as ordinary theft rather than economic sabotage against critical national infrastructure.

“The police only charge suspects for theft and the court will release them by the following day,” he said, adding that there were no clearly defined consequences for vandalism of transmission towers and lines.

According to him, several transmission towers in the North-Central, North-West and South-East regions have been vandalised in the past 12 months, with conductors, tower members and bolts removed and carted away.

He said each incident costs millions of naira to repair and often results in prolonged power outages affecting communities, industries and hospitals.

Ajiboye explained that repairs could take weeks, particularly when damaged towers were located in remote areas and specialised materials had to be procured.

He expressed concern that the problem went beyond the financial cost of repairing damaged infrastructure, stressing that the failure to prosecute offenders decisively sent the wrong signal to the public.

“When someone destroys a 330kV tower that supplies power to five states and the only charge is theft of scrap metal, then released on bail the next day, what deterrence exists?” he queried.

The TCN executive called for stiffer penalties for vandalism of transmission assets, similar to existing laws protecting oil pipelines and railway infrastructure.

He also advocated the establishment of special courts or the designation of magistrates to handle cases involving energy infrastructure sabotage in order to ensure speedy trials and convictions.

“We cannot continue to invest billions in rebuilding towers only for them to be pulled down again because the legal system treats it as petty crime,” he said.

Ajiboye further expressed frustration over what he described as poor police investigations and weaknesses in the legal system that allow suspects arrested for vandalising transmission towers to regain their freedom within 24 hours.

He said investigations were often incomplete, with little effort made to trace buyers of vandalised materials or identify and prosecute those who sponsor the criminal activities.

According to him, TCN field teams frequently hand over suspects and exhibits to police stations, only to later discover that the suspects had been granted bail or that case files could not be traced.

Beyond legal reforms, Ajiboye stressed the importance of community ownership and participation in protecting transmission infrastructure.

He urged traditional rulers, community leaders and security agencies to work closely with TCN field teams by providing intelligence and helping to secure transmission corridors within their communities.

He disclosed that TCN had deployed surveillance teams and was collaborating with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to protect vulnerable transmission towers.

However, he stressed that stronger legal backing and enforcement remained critical to addressing the problem.

TCN, he said, remained committed to expanding and rehabilitating the national transmission grid but warned that without effective legislation and enforcement, progress in the power sector would continue to be undermined by vandalism.

“The grid belongs to Nigerians. Protecting it must go beyond TCN. We need the police, the judiciary and the communities to treat this as what it is: an attack on national development,” Ajiboye said.