Power Minister Sets Up Committee To Tackle Vandalism Of Electricity Infrastructure
The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, has constituted a ministerial committee involving security agencies and electricity sector stakeholders to tackle the persistent vandalism of power infrastructure across the country.
The committee is expected to develop coordinated measures to prevent attacks on electricity generation, transmission and distribution facilities, which have disrupted power supply and imposed significant repair costs on the government and operators in the sector.
The initiative comes amid growing concerns over the impact of vandalism on Nigeria’s electricity network and efforts to improve the reliability of power supply to homes, businesses and industries.
In a statement announcing the committee’s formation on Friday, the Ministry of Power said the move was part of ongoing efforts to ensure a stable and reliable electricity supply across the country.
The ministry said the committee was established in response to repeated attacks on electricity infrastructure, which disrupt supply, increase maintenance costs and undermine investments needed to strengthen the power sector.
The statement read, “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 ministry added that the committee would define the specific responsibilities of participating institutions to ensure a coordinated and sustainable response to the problem.
The inaugural meeting was attended by the Special Adviser to the President on Homeland Security, Major General Adeyinka A. Famadewa; directors from the Office of the National Security Adviser; officials 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 aligned with the critical infrastructure unit of the Office of the National Security Adviser, reinforcing the government’s position that protecting electricity infrastructure is a national security priority.
At the meeting, participants proposed measures to prevent vandalism and outlined the responsibilities of their respective offices and agencies.
They resolved to enforce existing laws against vandalism, ensure the prosecution of offenders, deploy technology to protect critical national assets and intensify public awareness campaigns to discourage attacks.
The participants also pledged to strengthen collaboration among security agencies and power sector institutions to bring the menace to an end.
The committee is scheduled to reconvene next week to review progress and assess the implementation of the proposed measures.
The scale of the problem has raised concerns about the recurring cost of repairing damaged electricity infrastructure. In June 2025, the Transmission Company of Nigeria disclosed that 42 vandalism incidents recorded in the first half of the year had affected 178 transmission towers nationwide.
The company said the attacks affected several transmission regions, including Abuja, Bauchi, Enugu, Shiroro, Kano and Port Harcourt.
In January 2025, the then Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said more than ₦9bn had been spent restoring vandalised power infrastructure in northern Nigeria in 2024, highlighting the financial burden of the incidents.
Vandalism of transmission infrastructure can disrupt electricity supply even when power stations are generating electricity, as damaged lines and towers limit the network’s ability to deliver power to distribution companies.
The theft of tower components, conductors, cables and other equipment can also expose installations to further damage and necessitate repairs before affected lines can resume operations.
Beyond the immediate cost of replacing stolen or damaged equipment, repeated attacks divert financial and technical resources from network expansion and other projects aimed at improving transmission capacity and reliability.
The latest initiative therefore places emphasis on collaboration between security agencies and power sector institutions, with the aim of preventing attacks rather than relying solely on repairs after damage has occurred.
The Ministry of Power said effective implementation of the proposed measures should reduce outages caused by infrastructure attacks, improve electricity supply and strengthen the protection of public and private investments in the sector.