- Safiu Kehinde
Former Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has lamented over the unresolved power outage in Northern Nigeria which left the region in total darkness.
Kwankwaso expressed his displeasure with the situation in a post on his X handle on Monday.
The former Minister of Defense decried how the vandalism of 330kV Shiroro-Kaduna power line had left Kaduna, Kano, Gombe, and other parts of Northeast in darkness.
He said the situation has further compounded by the high cost of petrol and diesel in Nigeria.
Kwankwaso would, however, blame the impact of the vandalization on the huge deficit of capacity the country’s power sector while calling for the exploitation of alternative power sources.
“It is very disheartening that many parts of Northern Nigeria are in total darkness today due to vandalism on the important 330kV Shiroro-Kaduna power line that supplies the states of Kano and Kaduna and another line that supplies Bauchi, Gombe and other parts of the northeast.
“This situation has been further compounded by the high cost of petrol and diesel in Nigeria, which has further plunged homes into darkness and forced factories to close down.
“The time this crisis has taken to be addressed underscores the huge deficit of capacity our power sector has in order to address large scale problems and this must be addressed to avoid any future disruption.
“It is about time that we look into alternative power sources to address our energy needs and we need to exploit the abundant resources available to this country.
“I wish to encourage all state governments and private investors to invest in alternative electricity sources, just like we did in Kano by installing two turbines in the Challawa Gorge and Tiga Dams in order to reduce the reliance on our inadequate and aged energy sources.” Kwankwaso wrote.