Jos-Bauchi transmission line destroyed by vandals, says TCN

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has announced the vandalism of its tower 388 along the Jos-Bauchi, resulting in its collapse.

In a statement on Sunday, Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s spokesperson, said the incident, which affected the 132 kilovolts (kV) single circuit transmission line, was suspected to have occurred on February 1, at about 10pm.

“Following a line trip in Jos, Plateau State and bearing in mind past experiences associated with line tripping in that axis, the General Manager, Transmission of Bauchi Region, Engr. Tijjani Ahmadu invited the police anti-bomb squad and the Department of State Services (DSS) to accompany the TCN crew and investigate the transmission line to find the cause of the tripping,” the statement reads. 

Upon inspection, Mbah said, the team uncovered traces of detonated explosives that had been set off by vandals near the tower legs — which had exploded and caused the tower to collapse.

“This incident mirrors a recent and similar act on December 21, 2023, which brought down towers T372 and T373 along the Gombe-Damaturu 330kV Single Circuit transmission line, killing a security operative and affecting power supply in the same Yobe and Borno states,” Mbah said.

“The line and towers from the December incident were fully reconstructed and energised on 2nd February 2024.”

Meanwhile, the spokesperson said TCN has mobilised one of its contractors on an emergency basis, to the site of the incident, to quickly reconstruct and restring the damaged line and tower.

“While TCN is determined to keep working at rehabilitating and further expanding the nation’s bulk power transmission network, to ensure consistent bulk power transmission, it is pertinent to note that the continued vandalism and theft of power equipment is a constant setback to the ongoing implementation of the transmission system expansion plan,” the spokesperson said.

This, she said, is because funds earmarked for grid expansion are usually diverted as a matter of emergency, to fix vandalised power equipment, and occasionally to prevent the grid from collapsing.