Blackout in N’West as truck falls electricity tower in Kano

Several communities across the North-West geopolitical have been thrown into darkness following the collapse of an electricity tower.

The facility, according to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), came down after a trailer accident at Gunduwawa Village in Gezawa Local Council of Kano State.

Spokesperson for the TCN, Ndidi Mba said the crash resulted in the destruction of the tower and an extensive outage in the region.

In a statement, she said the incident occurred at approximately 9:28 a.m., causing the Kano-Hadejia 132kV Transmission Line to trip, resulting in the loss of 16.6 megawatts of electricity.

According to her, an attempt to reclose the line and restore power failed, leading TCN to dispatch a patrol team to inspect the affected area.

Upon arrival, Mba said the team discovered that the truck had struck tower T16, damaging two of its legs and causing it to collapse.

The crashed tower landed on the container and struck a nearby residential building, causing significant damage, she added.

The spokesperson noted: “Fortunately, no live was lost in the incident. The driver of the truck has been detained, and the case has been reported to the Gezawa Divisional Police Station.

“The power outage has left several communities, including Hadejia, Gumel, Gagarawa, Nguru, and others in Jigawa and Yobe states, without electricity.”

TCN stated that there is currently no alternative source of bulk power supply to the Gagarawa and Hadejia substations, which serve the affected areas. Consequently, these communities will remain without power until the tower is repaired.

The organisation, however, pledged to expedite the process of dismantling the damaged tower, erecting a new one, and restringing the power lines. A contractor has already been hired to handle the reconstruction, and they are expected to begin work at the site immediately.