The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Sunday, July 7, has said that vandals have destroyed two towers along Damaturu-Maiduguri line.
This was contained in a press statement its Public Affairs, General Manager, Ndidi Mbah issued.
She said: “The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, hereby states that two of its towers, T193 and T194, along the Damaturu -Maiduguri 330kV Single Circuit Transmission Line have again been destroyed by vandals.”
The incident, she said, TCN believes happened at about 10:15pm, yesterday night, when the 150MVA power transformer at Molai Substation tripped at the same time as the 330kV transmission line supplying bulk power to Maiduguri from Damaturu Transmission Substation.
The statement also noted that 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.
Mbah further said early on Sunday, 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.
TCN revealed that the area affected by this incident is Maiduguri and its environs.
It recalled that that on the 28th of December, 2023, towers T193, T194 and T195, were destroyed on 28th December, 2023 using similar improvised Explosives IEDs.
Two out of the towers in question, said Mbah, “are the towers affected by yesterday’s vandalism attack, which were rebuilt after that incident.
TCN is currently assessing the situation with the view to deciding on the best approach to ensuring the temporary restoration of the power supply while a contractor is mobilized to rebuild the two transmission towers.
“We will continue to do everything possible with the assistance of security operatives to protect our transmission towers and we are also calling upon the government and well-meaning Nigerians to join in the fight against the destruction of our collective national assets.”