By Monsuru Olowoopejo

lagos—The Lagos State Government yesterday said it has concluded plans to enact a law to specifically criminalise and punish severely, persons, who engage in power theft and vandalisation, expressing optimism that it would go a long way to tackle the menace headlong.

Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr. Olawale Oluwo, who said this at the ongoing Ministerial press briefing to commemorate the second year in office of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, in Alausa, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, said the state government was worried that its efforts to ensure streets of Lagos are well lit was being threatened by vandals.

He said the government had noticed a trend where some electricity infrastructure were damaged by hit and run motorists, saying that such was detrimental to the quest of the State to ensure that every nook and cranny of the state is lit.

But he said the State Government was coming up with a law under its Embedded Power Initiative to protect public lighting infrastructures from such destruction and vandalisation.

“We have noticed this vandalisation in three ways. The first one is that by weekends, between Friday and Sunday, we see a lot of vehicles knock down our electricity poles and we suffer the consequences.