SUSPECTED VANDALS DESTROY TCN TOWERS. (PHOTO).

 Suspected Vandals destroy TCN Towers

The Transmission Company of Nigeria has disclosed 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 10:15pm, yesterday 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.

According to a statement by General Manager, Public Affairs of the Company, Ndidi Mbah, made available to Journalists in Abuja, after the line tripped off, efforts were made by TCN engineers to close the Mulai - Damaturu line to enable bulk transmission of electricity, which failed repeatedly.

It added that early today,  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. 

The Transmission Company disclosed 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 says the situation is currently being assessed, with the view to decide on the best approach to ensuring the temporary restoration of the power supply while a contractor is mobilized to rebuild the two transmission towers. 

The Transmission Company promised continue to do everything possible with the assistance of security operatives to protect transmission towers, while also calling on the government and well-meaning Nigerians to join in the fight against the destruction of  collective national assets.