Blackout Hits 3 States As Vandals Destroy TCN Towers

Electricity supply to Gombe, Yola, and Jalingo substations has been disrupted, throwing residents of the areas into darkness following vandals’ destruction of four towers along the Jos-Gombe 330kV transmission line.

The vandalism happened at about 3:32 pm on Monday, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah said on Tuesday.

She said the bulk power supply to Gombe, Yola, and Jalingo substations has been disrupted.

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This affected the bulk power supply to parts of Yola and Jos electricity distribution companies’ franchise areas.

While describing how the incident occurred, Mbah said when the 330kV transmission line tripped, its operators attempted to restore it to service. However, it tripped again, prompting the dispatch of TCN linesmen to trace the line to detect and rectify the fault.

While fault tracing, TCN’s engineering crew said they discovered that towers 288, 289, 290, and 291 were vandalised, and that some tower members were carted away.

“Also, the towers had equally collapsed as a result of the incident,” TCN said.

To mitigate the effect of the incident on electricity consumers affected by the incident, TCN said it is trying to first, back feed Gombe through its 132kV transmission line from Bauchi, and subsequently Ashaka, Potiskum, Damaturu, and Billiri/Savannah.

“We will do everything possible to ensure that supply is restored to the affected areas, while efforts are made to reconstruct the four vandalised towers,” the statement said.