By ABAH SUNDAY, Abuja
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) makes save-our-soul (SOS) appeal to asset hosting communities as it announced and condemned in its entirety the vandalisation of its tower T372 around Katsaita Village in Yobe State, while reiterating commitment to make bulk power available for distribution to Nigerians during the yuletide and beyond.
According to a statement signed by TCN’s general manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, and made available to The SUMMIT POST on Friday evening, the incident occurred Thursday bringing down the 330kV transmission tower which in turn pulled down tower T373 along the same transmission line route.
“The incident which took place at about 21:18 on 21st of December, 2023, caused the failure of power supply to parts of the North East, namely Yobe and Borno States.
“While patrolling the line to ascertain the cause of the cut in power supply, TCN engineers discovered the fallen towers, and the villagers confirmed they heard a loud explosion before the tower came down. On closer investigation, the engineers found evidence of explosive used by the vandals in bringing down the towers.
“At the moment, TCN mobilised one of its contractors to the site of the incident to commence the reconstruction of the transmission towers damaged by the vandals.
“TCN strongly condemns the incident and regrets the inconvenience caused the government and people of Yobe and Borno States and pledges to do all that is possible to quickly re-erect the towers to restore power supply to the affected areas.
“We are once again making an urgent appeal to host communities to collaborate with TCN in the fight against vandalism, and the necessary preservation of power infrastructures – our collective assets nationwide,” the nation’s sole bulk power supplier said.
One of the critical challenges faced by the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) in recent years is vandalisation of the tower which connects different parts of the country largely through non-residential areas.