The Federal Government has reconnected Borno State to the
national electricity grid. This is coming after the Minister of State for
Power, Mr. Mohammed Wakil, issued a 48-hour ultimatum to officials of the
Transmission Company of Nigeria to reconnect the state despite security and
sabotage challenges. About seven months ago, insurgents in the state vandalised
power lines supplying electricity to the capital. Efforts to reconnect the
state had been thwarted by repeated vandalism and attacks on officials of TCN
by the dreaded sect, Boko Haram. A statement from the Federal Ministry of Power
on Wednesday stated that Maiduguri was reconnected on Monday afternoon. It
stated that officials of the power distribution company responsible for the
state as well as engineers from the TCN embarked on checks and reviews to
ensure that the restored electricity was sustained across the city. Wakil had
last week issued the 48-hour ultimatum, warning that Borno people were no
longer ready to listen to excuses for the blackout. He, however, apologised to
the people of the state for the long blackout and stated that “the last seven
months has been a very painful period. We have experienced great pains in
several attempts to restore electricity to the state. Wakil further stated that
the President had directed that the ongoing federal power projects in the state
be hastened in order to expand supply and reduce incidences of vandalism to the
barest minimum.
Punch (online)
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