A suspected cable vandal died Monday night after he was electrocuted inside the Etete Injection Substation operated by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company in Benin City, Edo State.
Police operatives from the Etete Division recovered the body from the facility on Tuesday morning. The substation, which steps down electricity from the national transmission network for distribution to consumers, sustained damage during the failed theft attempt.
BEDC Confirms Vandal Cut Live Transformer Cable
BEDC’s Head of Branding and Corporate Communications, Evelyn Gbiwen, confirmed the incident to journalists. She said the company received information that a suspected vandal had been electrocuted after returning to the substation to continue stealing cables.
Gbiwen said the group had first struck on Sunday, when suspects believed to be part of the same gang broke into the facility and removed multiple copper cables. They came back on Monday night to continue the operation.
Anticipating a second attack, the company’s regional head of technical direction directed workers to remain on alert at the facility. The vandal who died was not deterred.
“The suspect was electrocuted after mistakenly cutting what he believed was an earthing cable, but which was actually a neutral cable connected to the power transformer, triggering an electrical explosion,” Gbiwen said.
The distinction was fatal. An earthing cable carries no charge under normal operating conditions. A neutral cable connected to a live transformer does. The suspect made the wrong cut.
Power Infrastructure Vandalism Rising Across BEDC Franchise States
Gbiwen used the incident to renew the company’s standing appeal to communities to protect electricity infrastructure. She described cable theft and substation vandalism as a growing threat across BEDC’s four franchise states.
“The destruction of electricity infrastructure continues to disrupt power supply and impose huge financial losses on the company. I urge residents living close to substations and transformers to be vigilant,” she said.
BEDC has not disclosed the value of cables taken during the Sunday night raid. Details of how many suspects were involved in either operation were not immediately available, and no arrests had been announced as of Tuesday afternoon.
Engr. Afebogbe Oguezor, the Regional Head of Technical for the Benin South Region, said preliminary checks at the site suggested the suspects entered by climbing over the perimeter fence, despite security personnel being stationed at the facility.
Oguezor said the company was evaluating options to harden the site, including reinforcing the fence with barbed wire and deploying additional physical deterrents to prevent a repeat attack.
Neither the police nor BEDC named any other suspects. It was not confirmed whether the deceased had been previously identified by the company or security agencies before the fatal incident.
What Copper Cable Theft Costs Nigeria’s Power Sector
Cable theft is a persistent problem for electricity distribution companies operating across Nigeria. Vandals typically target copper conductors, which carry scrap value, and often do not understand or disregard the live-current risk involved in cutting active network cables.
Injection substations are particularly sensitive nodes in the distribution chain. Damage at that level can knock out power supply to entire neighborhoods and require days of repair work before service is restored.
BEDC covers Edo, Delta, Ekiti, and Ondo states under its franchise license. Repeated vandalism incidents in recent years have forced the company and rival distributors to divert capital to replacement and security spending rather than network expansion.
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, which has a dedicated infrastructure protection mandate, was not mentioned in connection with this incident. It was not immediately clear whether NSCDC had been contacted or was conducting a parallel investigation.
Police at the Etete Division did not issue a formal statement as of the time of filing this report. The matter is expected to be referred to the state criminal investigation department, though the timeline for that was not disclosed.
Residents in communities close to substations across Benin City have been put on notice by BEDC to report suspicious activity around electricity installations immediately to the company or the nearest police station.
