Residents of Gombe, Yola, and Jalingo have been plunged into darkness following a power outage caused by the destruction of four transmission towers along the Jos-Gombe transmission line by vandals.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) confirmed the incident, stating that the towers were vandalized around 3:32 pm on Monday. Ndidi Mbah, the General Manager of Public Affairs at TCN, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.
Mbah explained that the vandalism resulted in the disruption of bulk power supply to Gombe, Yola, and Jalingo substations, affecting parts of the Yola and Jos Electricity Distribution Companies’ franchise areas.
“The Transmission Company of Nigeria hereby states that four towers along the Jos – Gombe 330kV transmission line have been vandalized at about 3:32 pm today, 22nd April 2024,” Mbah said.
She added, “TCN notes that when the 330kV transmission line tripped, its operators attempted to restore it to service but it tripped again, prompting the dispatch of TCN linesmen to trace the line to detect and rectify the fault.”
Upon fault tracing, TCN’s engineering crew discovered that towers 288, 289, 290, and 291 were vandalized, with some tower members carted away, leading to their collapse.
“To mitigate the effect of the incident on electricity consumers affected by the incident, TCN is trying to first back feed Gombe through its 132kV transmission line from Bauchi and subsequently Ashaka, Potiskum, Damaturu, and Billiri/ Savannah,” Mbah said.
She assured that TCN would make every effort to restore power supply to the affected areas while simultaneously working on reconstructing the four vandalized towers.
