Dare Babalola
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has confirmed that vandals destroyed six transmission towers along the critical Apir–Lafia 330kV transmission line in Nasarawa State, resulting in significant disruptions to electricity supply in parts of the country.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, TCN spokesperson, Ndidi Mbah, said the incident occurred on May 30 at about 1:15 a.m. during a heavy downpour.
According to her, the transmission line initially tripped, prompting operators to attempt a trial reclosure of Line II at about 2:08 a.m., but the effort was unsuccessful.
She explained that a subsequent physical inspection of the transmission corridor revealed extensive damage to key components of transmission towers T125 to T130, confirming that the infrastructure had been vandalised.
“The tripping of the lines prompted a physical line trace to determine the fault, which revealed damage to critical components of towers T125 to T130, confirming vandalism on the affected sections of the transmission corridor,” Mbah said.
She noted that the destruction of the towers has forced both Apir–Lafia 330kV Transmission Lines I and II out of service pending the reconstruction of the damaged structures.
TCN said its engineers have already been deployed to the site to assess the extent of the damage and determine the materials required for the restoration of normal transmission along the corridor.
“TCN engineers have been mobilised to the site to assess the extent of damage and ascertain materials required to commence work to restore normal transmission along the corridor,” she stated.
As a temporary measure, Mbah said the Lafia 330kV Transmission Station is currently being supplied through the Lafia–Jos transmission line to reduce the impact of the outage on electricity consumers within the coverage areas of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) and Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC).
The company condemned the persistent vandalism of power infrastructure, warning that such acts undermine investments in the electricity sector and threaten the stability of the national grid.
TCN also appealed to residents of host communities and members of the public to remain vigilant and promptly report suspicious activities around transmission facilities to security agencies or the nearest TCN office.
According to the company, protecting critical national infrastructure requires collective action to ensure a reliable and uninterrupted power supply across the country.
