By Dipo Olowookere
Nigerians may continue to suffer poor electricity distribution if urgent steps are not taken to curtail the twin problems of energy theft and vandalism.
This was the submission of the Executive Director in charge of Research and Advocacy of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), Mr Sunday Oduntan.
He said during an interaction session with electricity consumers within the network coverage of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) on Thursday, September 15, 2022, that until these issues are tackled, Distribution Companies (DisCos) will continue to serve their customers poorly.
“The amount of energy that is stolen in this country is so much that it has impacted our ability to deliver service. I told the customers here that in a community, transformers are not put inside the bush or by the corner.
“People need to secure their transformers to enable us to provide the service that they need,” he said at the event themed Building Consumer Awareness and Strengthening the Customer Service Capacity of Electricity Distribution Companies.
As to ways to solve the menace, Mr Oduntan emphasised that it is only through collaboration between communities and DisCos, urging communities to guard their properties against vandals and to report energy theft through by-passing, to DisCos.
“The way forward is more collaboration and cooperation between the service providers and the communities and more communication. Sometimes, there is a disconnect in terms of awareness. We need to let our customers know what we are doing and what we need to do.
“Electricity supply has improved in recent weeks all over the country but we are not there yet; we are not where we need to be,” the energy expert said at the session supported by the MacArthur Foundation.
Many energy distribution firms in Nigeria have always lamented the several millions of Naira they lose monthly to the stealing of electricity installations and the bypass of prepaid meters by customers.
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Adedapo Adesanya