Barely a week after the transmission company of Nigeria (TCN) completed the repair of damaged facilities in the north-east, vandals struck again, destroying TCN infrastructure and plunging parts of the region into darkness.
“The Transmission Company of Nigeria hereby states 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 (Tuesday) night, when the 150 MVA 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, efforts were made by TCN engineers to close the Mulai-Damaturu line to enable bulk transmission of electricity, which failed repeatedly.
“Early Today, however, 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 company said in a statement.
Recall the same towers were destroyed in December 2023 and TCN are calling government to tackle the insecurity situation in the region head-on.
“Recall that on the 28 of December 2023, towers T193, T194 and T195, were destroyed, 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 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 are also calling upon the government and well-meaning Nigerians to join in the fight against the destruction of our collective national assets,” the statement added
