By Ewoma Omaje

Northern governors have expressed concern over the blackout in the region and have appealed by the Federal Government and related authorities to speed up the restoration of power. 

The Northern Governors’ Forum said this after the union’s meeting with traditional rulers and other stakeholders in Kaduna.

The governors in a communique issued after the meeting acknowledged that the electricity power blackout affecting most of the Northern States was due to vandalization of electricity transmission infrastructure. 

According to them, the blackout does not only underscores the vulnerability of critical infrastructure but also the need to build additional transmission lines and diversify energy supply to better connect the region and improve energy resilience.

The vandalism of a transmission line in the region has thrown the north into a blackout for days.

Businesses in several parts of the region are recounting losses, and owing to the outage, economic activities have been paralyzed in some places.

Disturbed by the development, President Bola Tinubu mandated the Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu, and other concerned parties to speed up the restoration process.

Tinubu also ordered the National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu “to work with the Army and Air Force to deploy adequate security personnel, including aerial cover, to protect the engineers who are fixing the damaged transmission line”.

While lamenting about the vandalism of the transmission lines, the president warned that Nigeria will no longer tolerate “deliberate sabotage and destruction of public utilities”.

Already, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said it was working to restore power to the affected region.