KEY POINTS

• Six transmission towers on the Apir-Lafia power line were vandalised, causing major electricity disruptions.
• The damaged towers have taken two critical 330kV transmission lines out of service.
• TCN engineers have been deployed to restore the infrastructure while temporary power supply arrangements are in place.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has confirmed that vandals destroyed six transmission towers along the vital Apir-Lafia transmission corridor in Nasarawa State, causing significant disruptions to electricity supply across parts of the country.

According to the company, the incident occurred in the early hours of May 30 at about 1:15 a.m. during a heavy downpour, leading to the sudden outage of the affected transmission lines.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, TCN spokesperson, Ndidi Mbah, explained that after the initial tripping of the transmission line, operators attempted a trial reclosure of Line II at about 2:08 a.m. However, the effort was unsuccessful, prompting further investigations.

She said engineers subsequently carried out a physical inspection of the transmission route to identify the source of the fault. The inspection revealed extensive damage to critical components on transmission towers numbered T125 to T130.

The findings confirmed that the outage was caused by deliberate acts of vandalism targeting the power infrastructure along the corridor.

Two Major Transmission Lines Out of Service

As a result of the destruction, both the Apir-Lafia 330kV Transmission Line I and Line II have been taken out of service and will remain unavailable until the damaged towers are reconstructed.

The outage has affected the efficient transmission of electricity through the corridor, raising concerns about the vulnerability of critical national infrastructure to criminal activities.

TCN said its engineers have already been mobilised to the site to assess the full extent of the damage and determine the materials and resources required for immediate reconstruction and restoration work.

To cushion the effect of the disruption on electricity consumers, TCN disclosed that the Lafia 330kV Transmission Station is currently being supplied through the Lafia-Jos transmission line.

The temporary arrangement is intended to ensure continued power delivery to customers within the coverage areas of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) and the Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC) while repair works are ongoing.