Blackout as vandals destroy TCN towers in Maiduguri

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says vandals have destroyed two of its towers along the Maiduguri – Damaturu transmission line.

In a statement on Wednesday, Ndidi Mbah, the commission’s spokesperson, said two of the towers — T193 and T194 — along the 330 kilovolts (kV) single circuit transmission line, were destroyed by vandals for the second time.

She said the incident was believed to have occurred at about 10.15 pm on June 12.

This, Mbah said, is because the 150 megavolt-amperes (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,” she said.

“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 TCN spokesperson said Maiduguri and its environs were affected by the incident.

“Recall that on the 28th of December, 2023, towers T193, T194 and T195, were destroyed on 28th December, 2023 using similar improvised Explosives IEDs,” she said.

“Two out of the towers in question are the towers affected by yesterday’s vandalism attack, which were rebuilt after that incident.”

Mbah said TCN is assessing the situation to determine the best approach for temporary power supply restoration while a contractor is mobilised to rebuild both transmission towers.

She said the commission plans to protect transmission towers with security assistance, urging the government and Nigerians to join in the fight against the destruction of national assets.