A civil society organisation, Initiative for Leadership Development and Change (ILDC), has urged Nigerians to resist vandalism of critical national infrastructure for a prosperous Nigeria.

President of the organisation, Ugochukwu Nnam, stated this in an interview with journalists on Saturday in Abuja.

Statistics have shown that Nigeria had lost over 150 million dollars to vandalism of infrastructure vandalism recently.

Mr Nnam, while felicitating Christians on this year’s Easter celebrations, called on Nigerians to assist in protecting all the county’s critical infrastructure which were meant to strengthen the economy.

He condemned all acts of vandalism targetted at government infrastructure, saying such that acts were capable of depleting resources.

“The federal government loses billions of naira daily to either pipeline or power vandalism, and this is not good for our economy.

“I urge all Nigerians, especially the youth, to join hands with security agencies to protect these infrastructure for a better and prosperous nation,” he said.

Mr Nnam, who expressed regret over the humongous amount of money being lost to vandalism, urged communities to show commitment to protecting the country’s critical infrastructure.

According to him, security is everyone’s business and the communities hosting these infrastructure are, therefore, to lead in the protection of government assets.

The ILDC president, who called for improved surveillance and funding, stating that perpetrators of such vandalism lived among the communities.

Mr Nnam urged perpetrators of such acts to desist from sabotaging national development, saying that they should rather embrace patriotism and honour as watchwords.

According to him, love for the county is key to building a stable and prosperous nation, globally.

Mr Nnam, who reiterated the imperatives of embracing patriotism, described vandalism as an act of economic sabotage.

“We cannot be destroying the efforts of government to make life better for us and, at the same time, be blaming government,” he said.

He warned the perpetrators of vandalism to desist in the interest of their children and future generation.

(NAN)