NSCDC arrests PHCN service manager, eight others

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Akwa Ibom State Command, has arrested a Power Holding Company of Nigeria Service Manager and eight others for engaging in illegal poles planting and cables theft. The nine men were said to have been napped following a tip off from residents who reported that some vandals were tampering with the PHCN installations at Nung Oku in Ibesikpo/Asutan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. The State Head, Public Relations/Protocol, NSCDC, Mr. Ime White, told pressmen in Uyo on Monday that when information reached the command that some people were vandalising the PHCN facilities, the State Commandant of the Agency, Mr. Pedro Ideba, quickly mobilised patrol teams to the area. He explained that the command’s prompt action was necessitated by the fear that if the vandals were quacks, they could be electrocuted, and could lose their lives in the process. White said that after the arrest, the command discovered that the truck the vandals were using has PHCN label, which details metering project of Port Harcourt district. He noted that the investigation also revealed that though the vandals posed as PHCN workers, none had ever worked with the Parastatal. He added that the command had impounded feeder cables, insulators, ladder and other working tools. He said, “There was information that there was vandalisation of PHCN cables and other installations. Our fear was that if the vandals are quacks, they could be electrocuted, and so their lives will be lost”. The commandant with his team swapped into action along Nung Oku in Ibesikpo/Asutan Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, where they discovered a purported contract of transplanting poles being undertaken by one Jenkins International Limited.“It was the duty of the Service Manager, PHCN, Ibesikpo/Asutan LGA, to have notified the Uyo District that has to do with the empowerment and approval of such jobs, but that did not happen.“Above all, upon their arrest we discovered that the truck they were using, with PHCN label that has to do with metering project of Port Harcourt district, not even Akwa Ibom; and though they posed as PHCN workers, we discovered that none of them worked with the company. Feeder cables, insulators, ladder and other working tools, were all impounded here.”He stated that when the command contacted Uyo Office of the PHCN to verify if there was any contract they gave to Jenkins International Limited, the office denied knowledge of such deal.