The nation grappled with severe disruptions in its power supply yesterday following the suspected sabotage of two key power transmission towers along the Gombe-Damaturu 330kV line. The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), headquartered in Abuja, issued a statement detailing the incident on Friday, resulting in a significant 5-megawatt decrease in power supply to the North-East region.
Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s General Manager of Public Affairs, expressed deep regret over the vandalism and destruction of transmission towers T377 and T378 along the Gombe-Damaturu 330kV line on February 23, 2024. This reprehensible act believed to be perpetrated by insurgents, caused a loss of approximately 5MW in power capacity.
At approximately 9:35 pm on the day of the incident, the Gombe-Damaturu 330kV transmission line experienced a sudden outage. Despite efforts by TCN engineers from the Bauchi regional office to restore the line, it tripped again. Subsequently, TCN dispatched linesmen and security personnel to investigate the fault, leading to the discovery of the two collapsed towers, T377 and T378.
As an immediate response, TCN has arranged a temporary electricity supply to Damaturu from the Potiskum Transmission Substation. Plans are underway to mobilize contractors to reconstruct the vandalized transmission towers and restore the affected 330kV line.
TCN vehemently condemns this act of sabotage and calls upon relevant authorities to enhance efforts in safeguarding power infrastructures. The company remains dedicated to expediting the restoration process and mitigating the impact of this regrettable incident on power distribution to the affected regions.
