An Aba-based industrialist, in the commercial nerve centre of Abia State, has commended the youths in various local government areas of the state for taking up the challenge against vandalism of electricity infrastructure which has been on the increase in recent times in the state reputed for indigenous manufacturing.
In a statement at the weekend in Aba, Mr Joseph Onyekachi, stated that the youths who have been assisting security agencies in the state, including staff of Geometric Power which generates and supplies electricity in nine of the 17 local government areas in the state, “are buoyed by sheer patriotism and commitment to the common good to protect the electricity infrastructure in our dear state and work in conjunction with the police and other security and intelligence agencies to safeguard these critical assets”.
Onyekachi who is also the secretary of the Southeast Zone of the Electricity Consumers Association of Nigeria, “recognise that those stealing copper wires and armoured cables of distribution transformers, among other critical components of the electric power supply chain, are compromising their own future.
“These vandals make it difficult for capable and hardworking youth to get employment or business opportunities; our youths don’t want to be economic parasites”.
He argued the youths would get a better chance to progress in life only when “there is affordable, constant and quality electricity supply, as Prof Bart Nnaji, the erstwhile Minister of Power, and his team at Geometric Power are trying to do now. “No nation can develop without electricity”. The industrialist contended that the action of those he described as patriotic youths shows that there is, “indeed, a future for our country despite the crass irresponsibility and hooliganism of a handful of Nigerian youths, including those stealing energy and those vandalising critical infrastructure across the nation”.