The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has revealed the occurrence of another attack on its electricity transmission lines in the Northeast, throwing parts of the region into darkness. It is coming barely a week after the wholly government-controlled organisation fixed the lines, which earlier elicited the concerns of the region’s state governors in the area due to the prolonged blackout. “The Transmission Company of Nigeria hereby states that two of its towers, T193 and T194, along the Damaturu-Maiduguri 330kV Single Circuit Transmission Line have again been destroyed by vandals.
The incident, TCN believes happened at about 10:15 pm, Tuesday night, when the 150MVA power transformer at Molai Substation tripped at the same time as the 330kV transmission line supplying bulk power to Maiduguri from Damaturu Transmission Substation. After the line tripping, efforts were made by TCN engineers to close the Mulai-Damaturu line to enable bulk transmission of electricity, which failed repeatedly.
Early Today, however, TCN lines engineers along with security operatives patrolled the line and discovered that towers 193 and 194 along the 330kV transmission line were brought down using an explosive device, whose fragments are scattered at the site of the incident.
The area affected by this incident is Maiduguri and its environs,” it stated. Many of the power assets in the North-east region have for long come under attacks by terrorists who blow them up randomly, thereby throwing the zone into incessant darkness.
In May, TCN reported the vandalism of three electricity towers in Maiduguri, Borno State, thereby delaying the restoration of electricity supply to the North-east region. It stated that while the TCN was working on reconstructing and restringing the four vandalised towers, three towers along the Biu-Dambua 132kV transmission line, were also vandalised with 16 spans of conductors stolen.
The towers, which collapsed, it said, included towers T1690, T1691, and T1692. Lamenting the latest incident, the TCN recalled that on December 28, 2023, towers T193, T194 and T195, were destroyed, using similar explosive devices like the previous ones. “TCN is currently assessing the situation with the view to deciding on the best approach to ensuring the temporary restoration of the power supply while a contractor is mobilised to rebuild the two transmission towers,” the statement added.
