By Olawale Lamina
The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has announced the damage to six of its transmission towers, from T125 to T130, on Apir–Lafia 330kV Transmission Lines I and II have been vandalized.
According to a release by the Company’s General Manager Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah , the damage occurred at about 1:15 a.m. on 30th May 2026, during a heavy downpour, adding that “Trial reclosure of these line II was made at 2:08 am following the initial tripping and failed.”
TCN revealed that the tripping of lines prompted a physical line trace to determine the fault which revealed damage to critical components of towers T125 to T130, confirming acts of vandalism on the affected sections of the transmission corridor.
“As a result, both Apir–Lafia 330kV Transmission Lines I and II remain out of service pending reconstruction of the affected towers. TCN engineers have been mobilized to site to access the extent of damage and ascertain materials required to commence to restore normal transmission along the corridor,” TCN explained.
“Meanwhile, the Lafia 330kV Transmission Station is being supplied through the Lafia–Jos transmission line as a temporary measure to minimise the impact of the outage on affected electricity customers within the franchise areas of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) and Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC),” TCN said.
Following the development, TCN expressed strong condemns about the continued vandalism of power transmission infrastructure and undermines years of investment in the sector. Meanwhile, this incident directly affects electricity supply to communities within the franchise areas of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company and Jos Electricity Distribution Company.
In conclusion, TCN appealed to host communities and the general public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activities around transmission installations to security agencies or the nearest TCN office. Collective action is essential to protect national grid assets and ensure reliable power supply.
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