Senate has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima to restore electricity in the entire North East.
Kashim Shettima is from Borno State, North Eastern Nigeria, a region that has been in darkness for weeks as a result of the damage done on the transmission line.
The Senate yesterday bemoaned the lack of electricity in most parts of the North East Nigeria and urged the federal government through the Federal Ministry of Power to as a matter of urgency, restore power to the region.
Debating a motion on “Urgent need to address the vandalization of TCN transmission lines in the North-East region of Nigeria” sponsored by Senator Manu Haruna (Taraba Central) it said the federal government should allocate funds to the TCN to address the faults along the Jos-Gombe 330KV transmission line and restore power supply to affected areas, especially on all affected towers.
The Senate noted that the vandalization of critical electricity transmission infrastructure posed a significant threat to the economic prosperity, public health, safety, and security of the North-East region of Nigeria.
While moving the motion, Senator Haruna said recent incidents of vandalization along the Jos-Gombe 330KV transmission line have resulted in severe disruptions to power supply, affecting millions of residents, hospitals, commercial activities, communication networks, public safety, and the overall well-being of the people in Plateau, Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi, Yobe, and Borno states.
In his contribution, Senator Kaka Lawan (Borno Central) said the region has been neglected for too long, adding that “some parts of the North East had no light in the last two years”.
Senator Shaibu Lau (Taraba North), said though the region has the Mambilla power project, in reality there is nothing like Mambilla power project today.
According to Lau “poverty is endemic as insurgency has disrupted our lives”.
In his contribution to the motion, former Senate President Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan (Yobe North), lamented the under development of the North East zone.
According to him, the underdevelopment of the zone was reported in the United Nations Report in the 90s, classifying the zone as the poorest out of the 6 zones in terms of economic and infrastructural development, adding that asking for revival of electricity infrastructure was the smallest compared to what other zones are enjoying.
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