The worsening power outages being experienced across the country are due to acts of sabotage perpetrated by some Nigerians, says the Federal Government.

Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, disclosed this while responding to questions from State House Correspondents after the week’s virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

According to the Minister, recent incidences, including fatal attacks and abduction of foreign workers, who are working on various power projects, had stalled progress in achieving completion on some projects, while other attacks on installations had led to major power cuts.

Aliyu insisted that these acts of sabotage had been robbing Nigeria of investors and development, appealing to Nigerians to join the federal government in combating the war on sabotage, which he said is actually a war for all citizens to wage.

“You’re all aware this country is facing a lot of challenges. It’s not only in the power sector alone, you have just heard about the insecurity. The railway and the communities are being attacked, oil pipelines. They’re all similar things, including the power sector.

“You can call it a sabotage because how can somebody go and pull down 330-megawatt tower to cause this havoc to the whole country. What do you call that?

“Not quite long ago, on January 4, the project that we had announced that we’re going to commission, the Zungeru, 700 megawatts hydro, which is at present over 92% completion, we’re just doing little touches to commission the project.

“There was an attack on January 4 this year and they abducted the Chinese workers and up till now they’re still with the captives. The Chinese cannot return to work until they get their brothers out.

“So, they are working minimally, we have like three sites on the whole project; the main dam, which on the 28th of March we have commissioned one of the turbines and passed it, we did the tests and it has passed, it was celebrated. They are working there in the main hydro.

“Then there is a line of over 30 kilometers to a switch yard. So, they’re not working on the switch yard on the line and if they don’t finish these two, you cannot evacuate.

“Even the turbine that we have commissioned and tested is just a dry testing, you cannot take electricity out because of the line and the tripping point, that’s where the switch yard is and this was where they attacked and killed some people, took away some of them, the foreign workers, about three.

“So, we believe they are all working together, just as the Minister of Information said. So, we need to also work together as a nation to support the leadership, to support the government, to face these challenges together. Any support you can give, give that support”, he said.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, also joined the call for an all-out war against acts of sabotage against public facilities, noted that all Nigerians suffer for any act of sabotage affecting public facilities.

Meanwhile, the FEC has approved N1.4 billion for the supply of more equipment for the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), in order to boost power supply in the country.

Minister of Power, Aliyu said: “I presented two memos form the ministry of power for the Transmission Company of Nigeria.

“The first one was variation of the sum of a contract for 132/33 KV substation at Kafanchan, Kaduna State with a KV line base extension at Jos substation, in Plateau State. This is in the sum of N132,705, 861.42.

“The second memo was for the supply of handling equipment, haulage and operational vehicles for the TCN at N1,338,159,080. 88. They are heavy lifting equipment that the TCN requires for doing its work in the store and on the field, while changing equipment and moving transformers and the council graciously approved”.