Tegbe Forms Committee to Curb Grid Vandalism

Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, has established a committee comprising security agencies and electricity sector stakeholders to tackle vandalism of power infrastructure, which continues to disrupt supply and impose heavy repair costs on the government.

The committee will coordinate efforts to protect electricity generation, transmission and distribution facilities through stronger law enforcement, technology deployment and public awareness campaigns aimed at preventing attacks.

The Ministry of Power announced the initiative in a statement on Friday, describing it as part of efforts to improve the reliability of electricity supply to homes, businesses and industries.

It said repeated attacks on power installations had interrupted electricity delivery, increased maintenance expenses and weakened investments needed to strengthen the sector. The committee will also assign specific responsibilities to participating institutions to ensure a coordinated and lasting response.

“As part of continuing efforts to guarantee stable and reliable electricity supply for households, businesses and industry, the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, has convened a ministerial committee on the prevention of vandalism of power infrastructure. The committee brings together security and power sector stakeholders and is tasked with ending attacks on assets across the electricity value chain.

“The committee was constituted in response to attacks on generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure, which disrupt supply to consumers, increase repair costs and erode the investment on which the sector depends. Its mandate also includes defining the contribution each institution will make toward a lasting solution,” the statement read. 

The inaugural meeting brought together the Special Adviser to the President on Homeland Security, Major General Adeyinka A. Famadewa; directors from the Office of the National Security Adviser; the leadership of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps; the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Power; and directors from the ministry and relevant agencies.

The committee’s activities will be coordinated with the critical infrastructure unit of the Office of the National Security Adviser, reflecting the government’s position that safeguarding electricity installations is a national security concern.

During the meeting, participants discussed preventive measures and identified the roles their respective agencies would play in protecting the infrastructure.

They agreed to strengthen enforcement of existing anti-vandalism laws, ensure offenders face prosecution, deploy technology to monitor and secure critical assets, and expand public education campaigns to discourage attacks.

The participants also committed to working jointly to reduce vandalism across the electricity value chain. The committee is expected to meet again next week to assess progress and review the implementation of the proposed measures.

The initiative follows repeated reports of damage to Nigeria’s transmission network. In June 2025, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) disclosed that 42 vandalism incidents recorded during the first half of the year had affected 178 transmission towers nationwide.

TCN identified the attacks as a major operational challenge, with incidents reported across several transmission regions, including Abuja, Bauchi, Enugu, Shiroro, Kano and Port Harcourt.

The financial cost has also been substantial. In January 2025, former Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu said the government had spent more than N9 billion repairing vandalised electricity infrastructure in northern Nigeria in 2024.

Damage to transmission towers and power lines can disrupt electricity supply even when generating stations are operating, as the transmission network may be unable to deliver the available power to distribution companies.

The theft of conductors, cables, tower components and other equipment can further compromise installations and leave affected lines out of service until repairs are completed.

Repeated restoration work also diverts money, personnel and technical resources from network expansion and improvements intended to increase transmission capacity and reliability.

The new committee is therefore expected to strengthen preventive action and cooperation between security agencies and electricity sector institutions, reducing dependence on repairs after attacks have occurred.

The ministry said effective implementation of the measures should help limit vandalism-related outages, improve electricity reliability and protect public and private investments in the power sector.