Enraged by the menace of vandals on electricity installations in the country, the Managing Director of Jos Electricity Distribution Plc, Hashim Ibrahim Bakori has advocated the establishment of a special tribunal to be exclusively dedicated for the trial and conviction of electricity thieves and vandals of electricity infrastructure.

Bakori, in a statement signed by the Head, Corporate Communications Dr Friday Adakole Elijah which was made available to reporters on Sunday in Jos also called for the invocation of the Miscellaneous Offences Act (2004 CAP M17) under which electricity criminals could be tried with stiff penalties via the instrumentality of sections 3(B), 9 and 10 of the Act.

He said for proper comprehension of the statute, Section 3(B) of the act states that “any person who unlawfully or with intent to destroy or damage any public property removes, defaces or causes damage to any public property shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 21 years without the option of a fine.”

The MD added that Section 9 of the Act states as follows “any person who unlawfully disconnects removes, damages, tampers, meddles with or in any way whatsoever interferes with any plant, works, cables, wire or assembly of wires designed or used for transforming or converting electricity shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to be sentenced to imprisonment for life.

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“In the same manner, Section 10 stipulates that “any person who unlawfully disconnects removes, damages, tampers, meddles with or in any way whatsoever interferes with any electric fittings, meters or other appliances used for generating, transforming, converting, conveyancing, supplying or selling electricity shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 21years.”

Bakori noted that the activities of vandals and electricity thieves were seriously hampering the operations of the energy sector.

According to him, most DisCos, especially Jos Electricity Distribution Plc, were suffering from the menace of vandalism saying “if it is not Distribution Transformers, cables or feeder pillars, will be Aluminium conductors.

“And the equipment are very expensive. In fact, vandals have become a thorn in the flesh of DisCos in this country.”

The Managing Director explained that when established, the tribunal would help to stem the tide of vandalism of electricity installations and other ancillary electricity crimes in the country.

He disclosed that between January and July 2021 alone, Jos DisCo has had about 170 Distribution Transformers, copper cables, and Aluminium Conductors valued at hundreds of millions of naira vandalised.

Bakori further stated that Makurdi, Bauchi and Bukuru have the highest rate of vandalism with 34, 30 and 30 respectively, followed by Gombe 27, Jos Metro 17, Azare 9, Gboko eight and Otukpo 10.

He was, however, pleased that despite the nefarious activities of vandals, the company’s security department in conjunction with the various security formations in the company’s franchise states have been trying their best in curbing the situation as three criminals have been convicted and 15 others are still pending in various courts in Bauchi, Benue, Gombe and Plateau states.

He therefore appealed to members of the public to help in safeguarding electricity installations in their locality since they are the end beneficiaries of the company services stressing that when these facilities were vandalised, it would be the communities that would be negatively affected even though Jos Electricity Distribution plc would lose a lot of revenue.

The Chief Executive Officer also disclosed that henceforth, the company would not take responsibility for the replacement of stolen and vandalized electricity facilities or items saying, “JED PLC has zero budget provision for the replacement of any stolen or vandalised items.”