By Abubakar Ojima-ojo
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says vandals have destroyed six transmission towers along the Apir-Lafia transmission line in Nasarawa state, causing significant disruption to electricity supply in some parts of the country.
In a statement on Wednesday, Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s general manager of public affairs, said the incident occurred on May 30 at about 1:15 am during a downpour.
Mbah said the transmission line initially tripped, prompting operators to attempt a trial reclosure of line II at about 2:08 am, but the effort was unsuccessful.
She said the failed reclosure necessitated a physical patrol of the transmission corridor, which revealed extensive damage to critical components of towers T125 to T130.
According to her, the findings confirmed that the towers were vandalised.
“As a result of the incident, both Apir-Lafia 330kV transmission lines I and II remain out of service pending the reconstruction of the affected towers,” the statement reads.
“TCN engineers have been mobilised to site to assess the extent of damage and ascertain materials required to commence to restore normal transmission along the corridor.
“Meanwhile, the Lafia 330kV Transmission Station is being supplied through the Lafia–Jos transmission line as a temporary measure.”
She added that the Lafia 330kV transmission station is currently being supplied through the Lafia-Jos transmission line as a temporary measure to reduce the impact of the outage on customers within the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) and Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC) franchise areas.
The TCN spokesperson also condemned the recurring vandalism of power infrastructure, saying such acts undermine investments in the electricity sector and threaten the reliability of power supply.
The company appealed to host communities and members of the public to remain vigilant and report suspicious activities around transmission facilities to security agencies or the nearest TCN office.
According to Mbah, “collective action is essential to protect national grid assets and ensure reliable power supply”.
