Four states in the North-East geopolitical zone, namely Taraba, Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, have been thrown into darkness following the commencement of a major power outage that began at 10:00 a.m. yesterday.

The outage, which is expected to last until 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, has already started affecting businesses and daily activities across the affected states.

Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) had, in an official announcement, attributed the outage to ongoing critical upgrade works being carried out by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on the Jos-Gombe 330kV and Jos-Bauchi-Gombe 132kV transmission lines.

The project, according to the management of YEDC, includes the installation of new towers at the Bauchi 330kV station and the rerouting of an existing 132kV line.

As a result, key areas including Damaturu, Molai, Yola, and Jalingo are currently without power, with their injection substations out of service for the duration of the maintenance.

To minimise the impact, TCN and YEDC have arranged alternative power supply routes for some locations. Biu will be powered by the Dadi Kowa Hydro Plant; Maiduguri’s Baga Road substation will receive electricity from the MEPP facility, and Nguru, Machina, and surrounding communities will be supplied via the 33kV Nguru feeder.