The Board of the Transmission Company of
Nigeria has warned that it will demolish structures within close
proximity to high-powered electricity installations across the country.
It also warned those erecting
residential buildings around its electricity installations – both power
stations and transmission sub-stations – to cease doing so with
immediate effect.
The board issued this warning on Wednesday during an inspection tour of the Enugu Region of the TCN.
The Chairman, TCN Board, Mr. Ibrahim
Waziri and former governor of Ebonyi State, Dr. Sam Egwu, led other
members of the board on the tour.
Egwu expressed shock that people could
risk their lives and that of their family members by living very close
to electricity sub-stations and other high-powered installations.
Responding to questions from journalists
on buildings close to the Onitsha sub-station, in Anambra State, Egwu
said, “It’s not only here we have observed this, we saw it in
Port-Harcourt.
“In fact, there is a sub-station where
an individual built his residence inside the premises of the TCN, but
that is the problem we have in this country.
“We blame the government for most of our
problems, yet we cause trouble for ourselves. Otherwise, why should a
normal human being risk the life of his entire family by building a
residential building close to high power installations, sometimes under
high-tension wire?”
He added, “Look at buildings very close
to this sub-station; they are not supposed to be built here, but they
have decided to defy instructions and build their structures,
residential buildings for that matter.
“So, this is a situation we have found
and as a board. We are going to look at it and we believe that we are
going to take an action that will not be palatable to those who have
flouted the laws of the land.”
The former governor was alarmed by the level of decay in the Enugu region.
He, however, said the board was poised
to tackle the problems; hence, the visit to all the locations where the
TCN had its transmission lines and sub-stations in order to assess the
situation.
“We are in these places to know the
problem on ground and be able to take a decision that will enable the
transmission company to be able to wheel the entire power that will be
generated to the distribution companies,” said Egwu.
The Deputy Managing Director, TCN, Mr.
Abubakar Atiku, blamed the persistent poor power supply on shortage of
gas, which he attributed to pipeline vandalism.
He said, “Before you get this power
generated, you must get the raw materials for it and the essential raw
material for electricity in Nigeria is gas, and to a certain extent,
water.
“For a couple of months, the industry
has had a lot of issues with gas; the pipelines are being vandalised and
that is principally the reason why we can’t still generate enough.”
In his address, the General Manager,
Enugu Region, TCN, Mr. Geoffrey Nwokoye, noted that part of the
challenges were that the Okpai-Onitsha DC 330KV transmission line as
well as the Benin-Onitsha 330KV transmission line were overdue for
mechanised line trace maintenance.
