Boko Haram Leaves Maiduguri In Total Darkness, Attacks Power Station
For three weeks running, Maiduguri, the Borno State capital,
and its neighbourhoods have been plunged into total darkness following the
reported damaging of major electricity installments around Damboa town by Boko
Haram terrorists, security sources said.
For about 21 days now, the entire city of Maiduguri has not
enjoyed electricity coming from the national grid.
A military person who spoke to Leadership in Maiduguri
confirmed that the Boko Haram insurgents had detonated bombs that affected the
high-tension installations around Damboa and has since left the about two
million residents of Maiduguri in total blackout.
Many residents now have to depend on power plants while
major business outfits and even government offices depend solely on generators
throughout the days.
The power outage has since caused residents some serious
economic hardship as most businesses that depend on electricity now hike the
prices of their products.
Many households that used to depend on the few hours of
electricity supply from the national grid to produce their iced blocks needed
for the Ramadan fasting period now have to buy from hawkers at expensive
prices.
“We now buy iced sachet water for N25 but before it used to
be sold for N10 each or, in some cases, two sachets of iced block for N15,”
said Bashir Mustapha, a resident of Maiduguri.
Boko Haram has, in the past three years, vandalized public
infrastructure like telecommunication masts that had hitherto cut off various
parts of Borno State from the rest of the world. The group had also used bombs
and fire to destroy schools, hospitals, police offices, barracks and even
cratering of roads. Their most recent attack on public infrastructure was the
bombing of an ultra-modern drilling rig procured by Borno State at the cost of
over N300 million at the site where it was mobilized to drill water for rural
dwellers of the northern part of Borno State.
