The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has assured the public that efforts are underway to restore bulk power supply in the northern regions of the country following a recent outage.
The outage, which affected the North-East, North-West, and parts of North-Central, occurred on October 22, when the 330 kV Ugwaji–Apir double circuit transmission lines 1 and 2 tripped due to a fault around 4:53 a.m..
According to Ndidi Mbah, General Manager of Public Affairs at TCN, repairs are being carried out despite significant security challenges, particularly in the areas affected by insurgency. TCN has been working in partnership with security agencies to fix the vandalized Shiroro-Kaduna transmission line, which is a major power source for Kaduna, Kano, and other northern cities.
“Contrary to media reports suggesting an indefinite power outage in parts of Northern Nigeria… TCN would like to state categorically that it is working diligently to restore bulk power supply as quickly as possible despite prevailing security challenges,” Mbah said in a statement on Sunday.
TCN further clarified that it had rerouted power through the Ugwuaji-Apir 330 kV line to temporarily restore some power to affected areas. However, this line also recently tripped, causing the power outage to persist.
Nafisatu Ali, TCN’s Executive Director (Independent System Operator), emphasized during a public hearing held by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) that the company cannot deploy engineers without adequate security measures due to the risks posed by insurgency in the region.
“TCN has been collaborating closely with the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) to work with our engineers to access the vandalism site to enable them to effect necessary repairs,” Mbah added.
The TCN assured Nigerians that it remains committed to overcoming these challenges and restoring power to all affected areas, while acknowledging the severe inconvenience caused by the outages.
