The Plague of Power Transformers’ Cable Theft in Lagos

From Owodunni/Awoyokun in Palmgrove, Lagos Nigeria; a plague is sweeping through the town in a ferocious manner carting away with it a single item of interest ‘Transformer Cables’ and leaving behind; the old, young, men and women in these areas panting and gasping for breath. The whole area has suddenly gone quite and people simply gaze with no knowledge of what to do. Even if we do know what to do, the strength to do isn’t there anymore, knowing that even if the cables be replaced, it might not last again more than a couple of hours before the ‘owners’ of the cables come ‘take’ them away again just as it almost happened to a school nearby us, whose cables were stolen and the PHCN guys came and replaced them only for the ‘owners’ to come again about 2-3 nights later; thanks to the newly stationed night guard around the transformer who saw the owners right at the act of trying to steal the cables again and they fled.

Three times in less than a year, four times in less than 2 years; for the ones I’ve witnessed, it first happened around Oct-Dec. 2009 when suddenly we heard the cables had been stolen, it took close to 2-3months for the almighty PHCN to come replace them at Dec. and just as the cry of the baby was heard and the shouts of joy filled the whole maternity ward, there came the shrieks of a crib death in January and there we go again the cables gone. And how do we explain to the almighty PHCN their cables had been stolen again after a wonderful gesture they bestowed on us by replacing the stolen cables only for it to be stolen again by who, by they themselves? Well, they freaked out and insisted unless we the neighborhood provide security for their installation (imagine MTN, GLO, ZAIN etc to ask the neighborhoods to provide security for their installations) hell who cares? But not with the almighty PHCN, we foolishly complied and spent about N150, 000+. And let me gist you the location of the transformer so you understand better: it is on the highway (Ikorodu road), on an undeveloped land overgrown with bushes and thorns. You dare don’t stay around that spot more than 5seconds at night lest…ok. Some of us insisted relocation of the transformer but others and PHCN prevailed and installed another cables.

Now it has come yet again in the month of August, they yet have struck, what do we do? It is happening at an alarming rate all around: going out everyday and hearing people say ‘they wanted to steal our cables or they stole our cables’. Hopefully it would be they stole our transformer soon.
It happened somewhere in Ketu also and residents of that neighborhood went ahead to arrest the manager of the PHCN and I learnt he did confess to have done it along with his boys. Each time cables are to be stolen, there usually is a power cut first; the officials of PHCN must be made to answer to all these weird and rampaging theft of cables with market value of N250, 000 (they said so ‘PHCN’ not me). Imagine in our own situation 4*250, 000 = 1,000, 000 (cool cash), pardon my remark or rather who really cares.