The Transmission Company of Nigeria has said that vandals destroyed 109 transmission towers across Nigeria in nine months.
This was disclosed in the company’s recent report on vandalisation, stating that 132kV double circuit power transmission lines, 330kV double circuit lines were destroyed and soil excavation carried out, which threatened transmission towers.
According to the TCN report, the vandalism occurred majorly in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Enugu, and Benin region.
“In the Kano region of TCN, 49 towers were vandalised, Osogbo region, 51; Abuja region, 19; Enugu region, 18; among others. Nine towers, from Tower 56 to Tower 65 along the Papalanto/Abeokuta 132kV transmission line, located in the Obafemi Owode area of Ogun State, were all massively vandalized, leading to their collapse on May 23, 2023.” TCN said.
The company said Abeokuta was out of power supply for some days as the company had to supply bulk electricity through an alternate line to enable Ibadan Disco (Distribution Company) to distribute electricity to its customers whose supply was affected by the incident.
According to TCN, “there were frequent activities of vandals in the TCN Aba sub-region in August 2023, with repair costs totaling about N23 million.
They include 122No earthen copper conductors and 244No copper cable lugs with N366, 000 worth of galvanized bolts and nuts carted away.
“Uyo Work Centre has only one case of vandalism at Itu T/S, where an underground cable connected to the generator was vandalized.”
The report showed that vandals attacked towers 30 to 33 along Ihovbor-Osogbo-Benin-Osogbo double circuit transmission line, cutting the legs of the four towers in the Benin region.
Also, the Port Harcourt sub-region also recorded some cases of vandalism including Owerri Ahoada 132kv DC Line (T199 – T211), IPP/Elelenwo 132kv DC Line (T40, T43, T52 and T53), Owerri/Ahoada 132kv Line (T203 – T217), Ahoada/Yenagoa 132kv Line (T19 – T31) and IPP/Elelenwo 132kv Line (T40).
Meanwhile, the company said that it has contracted out the repairs of some of the vandalized towers.