Residents of Yobe, Maiduguri, and surrounding areas are facing yet another power outage following the destruction of a Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) tower by terrorists.
TCN confirmed on Sunday that vandals brought down tower No. T372 along the Gombe-Damaturu-Maiduguri 330kV transmission line early Saturday morning, September 21, 2024.
This attack marks the third in recent months, with previous incidents in June and December 2023, throwing the entire region into darkness once again. The damaged tower has disrupted the power supply to the Yobe and Borno States.
“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, the 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 ongoing attack on our collective national assets and encourages citizens to be vigilant in protecting these assets and report suspicious activities or persons around our transmission infrastructure to law enforcement agents or TCN offices in that vicinity.