Kebbi State Government has engaged the services of hunters as a surveillance team to safeguard transformers and other electrical installations from vandalism in the state capital.
Addressing the hunters at the Cabinet Office, Birnin Kebbi on Monday, the Adviser to Kebbi State Governor on Political Affairs and Power, Hon. Kabiru Sani-Giant said the essence of the team was to ensure the security of electrical installations especially theft of armoured cable which had become rampant in Nigeria.
He observed that at the end of the day, the loss or bulk of the burden lies on the neck of the government, hence the need for precautionary measures to avert the trend.
“If a transformer is vandalized, in the end, it’s the government that will bear the burden and that’s a minus on the side of government and its people because it will spend the money that would have been used for developmental projects to replace electrical installation.
“That’s why we decided to fish out trustworthy people like you to do this kind of job. We know the bad eggs amongst us will take advantage of this power outage to perpetrate their evil acts of removing armoured cable, but with you people on the ground, they won’t be able to carry out their bad intention,” he assured.
Sani-Giant advised them to be very vigilant in discharging their duties, recalling that even when there was a power supply, because the supply used to be rationing, the hoodlums carried out their acts in areas where light was not available at a particular time.
This, according to him, had become a threat to Kebbi State in general, “that’s why we feel your services are very important, you are not only assisting government but also, you are assisting yourself and the general public.”
The governor’s aid informed them that the work would make them to become more professional in the security aspect and at the same time they would get some token from the government apart from a reward from their creator.
On his part, the Commissioner for Home Affairs and Internal Security, Hon. Sama’ila Yakubu-Augie said: “Security is everybody’s business, hence the need for all hands on deck to rescue the situation.”
He reminded the team that protecting power installations should be a collective responsibility that every Nigerian must contribute for the good and safety of all.
Responding, the Commander Kebbi State Hunters, Ambassador Musa Hussaini Rambo lauded Gov. Nasir Idris for finding them worthy of the job and assured that they would do their best to protect the installations from vandalism.
Hussaini Rambo sought support and cooperation from the general public to discharge their function diligently.
