By Garba Mohammed
The Federal Government has intensified efforts to curb the growing vandalism of critical power infrastructure, with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) partnering the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) to strengthen the protection of electricity assets nationwide.
As part of the renewed collaboration, a delegation from ONSA on Wednesday paid a courtesy visit to the Chairman of NERC, Musiliu Oseni, in Abuja to discuss strategies for addressing the persistent destruction and sabotage of facilities within the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).
During the meeting, both agencies reaffirmed their commitment to closer cooperation aimed at safeguarding critical national power infrastructure and improving electricity supply across the country.
The discussions centred on the rising cases of vandalism and attacks on electricity installations, which stakeholders say continue to threaten grid stability and disrupt power delivery to homes and businesses.
Speaking during the engagement, Oseni acknowledged the important role of ONSA in protecting national assets and stressed that sustained inter-agency collaboration remains vital to tackling attacks on power facilities.
According to him, stronger coordination between NERC and ONSA would enhance the security of electricity infrastructure and contribute significantly to improving the reliability of power supply nationwide.
Also speaking, the Director of Critical National Assets and Infrastructure Protection at ONSA, Enebong Effiom, emphasised the need for continuous information sharing and joint operational planning among regulators, security agencies and operators in the power sector.
Effiom noted that protecting critical infrastructure in the electricity industry requires a unified and proactive approach to prevent further sabotage and economic losses.
Both agencies agreed on several immediate measures to strengthen the fight against vandalism. These include the establishment of a joint stakeholders’ forum, the creation of a shared database to track power assets, vandalism incidents and infraction reports, as well as the deployment of a reporting platform to enable faster incident reporting, arrests and prosecution of offenders.
