Nigeria: TCN Suffers Sabotage As Vandals Damage Four Towers Along Jos-Gombe Transmission Line

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has reported another attack involving four towers along the Jos-Gome 330kV line, and it appears attacks on Nigeria’s power transmission infrastructure will not end anytime soon.

With Africa’s most populous nation struggling to make light available to less than half of the population who have access to power, the least Nigerians expect is this kind of unpatriotic and shameful attacks on its power infrastructure.

According to a statement issued by TCN on Tuesday, there was an attack at about 3:32 p.m. on Monday, 22nd April 2024, resulting in the damage of its transmission line.

The statement issued by the General Manager of TCN for Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, mentioned that their transmission line tripped and the company’s operators attempted to restore it to service but it tripped again.

Mbah said this prompted the dispatch of TCN operators to trace the line to detect and rectify the fault.

She added that while tracing the fault, TCN’s engineering crew discovered that towers 288, 289, 290, and 291 had been vandalised, with some parts carted away.

“Also, the towers had equally collapsed as a result of the incident,” she disclosed.

“Presently, bulk power supply to Gombe, Yola, and Jalingo substations have been disrupted, affecting bulk power supply to parts of Yola and Jos Electricity Distribution Companies’ franchise areas.

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

She said TCN would do everything humanly possible to restore supply to the affected areas, while efforts were being made to reconstruct the vandalised towers.

On April 18, the transmission company said it had deployed a digital system called generation dip/loss detection system (GLDS) to swiftly detect and respond to sudden drops in power generation.

The deployed GLDS, which provides advanced tools for real-time monitoring and analysis of grid performance, is to help enhance management.

The country has on three different occasions suffered a grid collapse in 2024.

The first national grid collapse was recorded on February 4, with another blackout on March 28 and on April 15.

Source: https://energynewsafrica.com