Yobe, Borno States in Darkness
Electricity supply in Nigeria suffered another major setback following fresh attack by vandals on a tower responsible for major electricity transmission.
The incident believed to have been carried out with the use of explosives by the culprits, is suspected to have occurred on February 1, 2024, at about 10:20 p.m, and is now responsible for power outage in Yobe and Borno States.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) stated on Sunday night that its tower number 388 along the Jos-Bauchi, 132kV Single Circuit transmission line was vandalised, resulting in its collapse.
TCN said in a statement that with the help of the Department of State Services (DSS), it uncovered remnants of the explosives used to blow up the tower.
It said: “Following a line trip in Jos, Plateau State and bearing in mind past experiences associated with line tripping in that axis, the General Manager, Transmission of Bauchi Region, Engr. Tijjani Ahmadu invited the police anti-bomb squad and the Department of State Services (DSS) to accompany the TCN line crew and investigate the transmission line to find the cause of the tripping.
“Upon inspection, the team uncovered remnants of detonated explosives by vandals by the tower legs, which had exploded and caused the tower to collapse.”
Meanwhile, the incident mirrors a recent and similar act on December 21, 2023, which brought down towers T372 and T373 along the Gombe-Damaturu 330kV Single Circuit transmission line, killing a security operative and affecting power supply in the same Yobe and Borno States.
It noted, however, that the line and towers from the December incident were fully reconstructed and energized on February 2.
To rescue the affected states from the latest attack, TCN said it had engaged one of its contractors on an emergency basis to quickly mobilize to the site of the incident to commence the reconstruction and restringing of the affected line and tower.
The restated its determination to keep working at rehabilitating and further expanding the nation’s bulk power transmission network, to ensure constant setback to the ongoing implementation of the transmission system expansion plan.
“This is because funds earmarked for grid expansion are usually diverted as a matter of emergency, to repair vandalized power infrastructure, and sometimes to avert grid collapse,” the Company said in statement by Ndidi Mbah, its General Manager of Public Affairs.
