Nigeria: Govt Moves to Stem Vandalism in Power Sector, Inaugurates Committee

What the report says

Nigeria’s federal government has taken a new step to address vandalism targeting electricity infrastructure by inaugurating a ministerial committee to coordinate protection efforts across the power sector. According to the AllAfrica-distributed report from This Day, the committee met for its first session in Abuja under the leadership of Minister of Power Joseph Tegbe, alongside representatives of security agencies and government institutions.

The ministry said the group was created in response to repeated attacks on generation, transmission and distribution facilities that have disrupted electricity supply, driven up repair costs and reduced investor confidence in the sector. Its role is to assign responsibilities to participating institutions and develop a more coordinated plan for safeguarding assets linked to electricity delivery.

The report said vandalism has remained a serious problem in recent years. As context, it cited figures from the Transmission Company of Nigeria showing 42 vandalism incidents affecting 178 transmission towers in the first half of 2025, and government spending of N8.8 billion on repairs to 128 vandalised towers between January and November 2024. Those figures underscore how sabotage can divert money away from network expansion and modernization toward restoration work.

More broadly, the move reflects a wider challenge in Nigeria’s power sector, where damaged infrastructure can deepen outages and slow progress on reliability improvements. The committee’s work will likely be watched for signs that it can improve coordination among agencies and reduce recurring losses.