Residents of Yobe, Maiduguri and environs have suffered another spate power outage following the destruction of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) tower by terrorists.
The TCN on Sunday, said that its tower No T372, along Gombe -Damaturu-Maiduguri 330kV transmission line was brought down by vandals on Saturday, September 21, 2024, at about 1:44am.
This development has thrown the whole of Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State, up to Maiduguri in Borno State out of power supply.
This is the third time in recent months that terrorists have destroyed electricity towers in the areas.
Recall that earlier in June, vandals also destroyed the 330kV transmission line between Maiduguri and Damaturu. That was the second attack on towers T193 and T194, which had been recently rebuilt after a similar incident in December 2023.
“This time, the vandals cut off all four tower footings, resulting in the collapse of tower T372 along the Gombe-Damaturu-Maiduguri section, which was discovered by TCN’s linesmen deployed on emergency patrol,” TCN’s general manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah said in a statement.
“Following this destructive attack, effort is ongoing by TCN’s engineers in the interim, to back feed Damaturu through a 33kV transmission line from Potiskum, while Maiduguri town will be fed from the Maiduguri Emergency Power Plant (MEPP),” she continued.
She however assured that work will commence immediately to dismantle and evacuate the collapsed tower for reconstruction and restoration of the transmission line. “TCN frowns at the incessant attack on our collective national assets and enjoins citizens to be vigilant in protecting these assets and also to report suspicious activities or persons around our transmission infrastructure to law enforcement agents or TCN offices in that vicinity .
“TCN is committed to a quick restoration of bulk power to the affected areas and will expedite reconstruction work on the tower to ensure that it is completed as soon as possible,” the company said.
