Oluyemi Ogunseyin
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), on Wednesday, announced the destruction of two of its electricity towers along the Damaturu -Maiduguri 330kV Single Circuit Transmission Line by vandals.
TCN, in a statement signed by its spokesman, Ndidi Mbah, said that the towers destroyed were T193 and T194.
The incident, TCN believes happened at around 10:15 pm, on 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, TCN said efforts were made by its engineers to close the Mulai – Damaturu line to enable bulk transmission of electricity, which failed repeatedly.
Early on Wednesday, however, TCN added that its line 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,” the statement read.
“Recall that on the 28th of December, 2023, towers T193, T194 and T195, were destroyed on 28th December, 2023 using similar improvised Explosives IEDs.
“Two out of the towers in question are the towers affected by yesterday’s vandalism attack, which were rebuilt after that incident.”
TCN confirmed that it 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.
“We will continue to do everything possible with the assistance of security operatives to protect our transmission towers,” Mbah said.
“We are also calling upon the government and well-meaning Nigerians to join in the fight against the destruction of our collective national assets.”
