Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has stated that its tower number 388 along the Jos-Bauchi, 132kV Single Circuit transmission line has been vandalised, resulting in its collapse.
The incident, according to the General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, suspected to have occurred on February 1, 2024, at about 10:20 pm, led to a power outage in Yobe and Borno States.
“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, Mr. 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.
“This 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.
“The line and towers from the December incident were fully reconstructed and energised on February 2, 2024,” the company said.
Meanwhile, TCN has said it engaged one of its contractors on an emergency basis to quickly mobilised to the site of the incident to commence the reconstruction and restringing of the affected line and tower.
It stated that while it is determined to keep working at rehabilitating and further expanding the nation’s bulk power transmission network, to ensure consistent bulk power transmission, it is pertinent that the continued vandalism and theft of power equipment pose a 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 vandalised power infrastructure, and sometimes to avert grid collapse,” the TCN said.