Again, Vandals Destroy Newly Rebuilt Towers Along Damaturu-Maiduguri Line — TCN

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has decried that two of its newly reconstructed towers, T193 and T194, along the Damaturu-Maiduguri 330kV Single Circuit Transmission Line have again been destroyed by vandals.

The company said it believed the incident happened at about 10:15pm on Tuesday night when the 150MVA power transformer at Molai Substation tripped at the same time as the 330kV transmission line supplying bulk power to Maiduguri, Borno State, from Damaturu Transmission Substation in Yobe State.

TCN general manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, said in a statement on Wednesday, that after the line tripped, efforts were made by TCN engineers to close the Mulai-Damaturu line to enable bulk transmission of electricity, which failed repeatedly.

“Today, 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.

“The area affected by this incident is Maiduguri and its environs,” she stated.

Recall that on the December 28, 2023, towers T193, T194 and T195 were destroyed by vandals using similar improvised Explosive devices (IEDs). Two out of the towers in question were the towers affected by Tuesday’s vandalism attack, which were rebuilt after that incident.

TCN said it is currently assessing the situation with the view to deciding on the best approach to ensuring the temporary restoration of power supply while a contractor has been mobilised 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,” TCN added.