Reports that facilities of the Shiroro Hydro-Electric Power Plant in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State have been invaded by victims of bandit attacks displaced from over 30 communities in the state is an indication of the porous security provided for such a critical strategic asset in the country. This is indefensible, particularly given the critically inadequate power supply situation in the land, which suggests that the available power plants should be given maximum protection. Commissioned by the General Ibrahim Babangida regime in June 1990, the station has an installed capacity of 600 MW and is currently operated by the North-South Power Company Limited (NSPCL) following the privatisation of power facilities undertaken by the Federal Government in 2013.
Giving details of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who have taken refuge in the station’s facilities, the Northern Zonal Organising Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Generation and Transmission Employees (NUEGTE), Mr Eyurentosacen Godwin, told the media that they had camped at the Day Secondary School, Shiroro, and the Day Secondary, Zumba, which are within the facility’s area of operation. Alarmingly, it was revealed that the IDPs had been using the place for over one month without any support from the federal, state or local government. Rather, according to one of the victims, the only assistance they had received was from officials of the power station who provided them food and drugs.
We find it strange that the IDPs have been occupying these facilities for so long without the power station’s management informing the requisite emergency and security authorities. The Director-General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Alhaji Ahmed Inga, claimed that the state government had not received any official report on the IDPs from Shiroro Local Government. This is inexcusable on the part of the local government. But even NSEMA should be more alert to its responsibilities, especially since it functions in a state where bandit attacks on and displacement of local communities have been quite frequent. It is incredible that the agency claimed ignorance of the fact that people from so many communities had been rendered homeless. Indeed, there is no reason why there should not be properly established, managed and secured IDP camps in Niger State, given its position as one state vulnerable to attacks by bandits and other criminals.
The electricity employees union also noted that the IDPs who are using the classrooms of the schools as camps have disrupted teaching and learning in the institutions. Incidentally, the power station had reportedly recently carried out renovation works, including the construction of two blocks of 20 classes at Government Day Secondary School, Zumba, as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR). Of course, there is always the danger that for an area prone to attacks on schools and kidnapping of pupils, reports of unprotected school premises may attract the attention and assault of undesirable elements.
We call also on the military, police and other security agencies to take prompt action to protect the occupied facilities, restore normalcy as well as provide adequate security for the power plant. This undesirable situation calls attention once more to the fact that the present unitary security and policing system is inadequate to adequately meet the security challenges of a vast federal territory like Nigeria. There is thus the need to constitutionally empower component states of the federation to establish their own security agencies to complement the efforts of federal outfits and with adequate accompanying safeguards, to prevent the abuse of such powers.