NSCDC, Police, Telecom Stakeholders Adopt Tough Measures Against Cable Theft in Abia

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Abia State Command, has stepped up efforts to combat vandalism and safeguard critical national infrastructure, convening a high-level stakeholders’ engagement in Umuahia.

The one-day strategic meeting, held on April 30, 2026, brought together key players from security agencies, telecommunications companies, and government institutions, with a strong focus on protecting fibre optic cables and other vital assets essential to national development.

Addressing participants, the State Commandant, Chukwuemeka Odimba, reaffirmed the Corps’ mandate as the lead agency responsible for the protection of critical national assets. He noted that while the task remains enormous, sustained collaboration among stakeholders is crucial to overcoming the growing threat of vandalism.

Odimba emphasized that safeguarding national infrastructure is directly tied to economic growth and efficient service delivery, stressing that a united front would significantly reduce acts of sabotage. He also commended the leadership of Ahmed Abubakar Audi for ongoing reforms within the Corps, including the deployment of advanced surveillance drones and enhanced personnel training to strengthen security operations nationwide.

He urged telecom operators and other industry players to deepen their partnership with security agencies, warning that only collective action can effectively tackle economic sabotage.

Participants at the meeting—including officers of the Nigeria Police Force, various NSCDC divisions, and representatives of telecom firms—unanimously called for stronger inter-agency collaboration to address the rising cases of infrastructure vandalism.

In a related development, stakeholders adopted a series of far-reaching measures aimed at curbing vandalism and improving coordination. The meeting, which also had representatives from the Ministry of Industry and SMEs, identified key challenges such as vandalism, harassment of field engineers, and poor inter-agency coordination as major impediments to service delivery.

Representing the Commandant, Deputy Commandant Damisa Anthony set the tone for deliberations, while the Head of Critical National Assets and Infrastructure (CINAI), Edike Etang, outlined expected resolutions in a communiqué.

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Also speaking, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), Ifeanyi Ohuruzo, who represented the Abia State Commissioner of Police, Isa Danladi, assured of enhanced collaboration between the police and other agencies to combat vandalism and protect government assets.

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Key resolutions reached at the engagement include the immediate adoption of a joint standard operating procedure for verifying maintenance teams, the establishment of a 24-hour hotline for incident reporting, and the creation of a Joint Implementation Committee to ensure compliance.

Stakeholders also agreed to deploy joint rapid response teams, enforce zero tolerance for harassment of field engineers, and ensure strict prosecution of vandals in accordance with relevant laws—signaling a coordinated and intensified crackdown on threats to Nigeria’s critical infrastructure.