Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) says it has lost about N4 billion to vandals who destroyed its assets and electrical installations in Lagos in the last six months.

At a news conference on Wednesday, EKEDC managing director Tinuade Sanda listed the areas as Mushin, Yaba, Surulere, Ijora, Apapa and Lagos Island.

“We have witnessed 18 incidents, and from our own estimate, we have lost about N3 billion to the underground armoured cables that are being stolen and resold in the black market,” explained Ms Sanda. “In terms of revenue losses due to prolonged outages, we also estimate an additional loss of N1 billion, which means we have lost about N4 billion to these activities of vandals.”

She added that the vandalisation of EKEDC’s assets led to prolonged power outages, deaths and injuries.

The DisCo boss reiterated that the firm had not given a mandate to any company to excavate electrical or cable installations within its network.

“I am, therefore, calling on our customers, security agencies and most important, the media and the public to be vigilant and assist us in this fight against vandalism within our franchise area and put an end to these incessant acts of criminality,” stated Ms Sanda.

She noted that the destruction of the firm’s assets was unfortunate considering the epileptic electricity supply in Nigeria due to shortage of gas supply, drop in power generation and the collapse of the national grid.

“However, I would like to reiterate to our esteemed customers that we are actively engaging the other stakeholders in the industry to provide solutions to these problems,” Ms Sanda said. 

(NAN)