Barely 72 hours to Christmas day, electricity consumers in some parts of the North East States of Yobe and Borno were on Thursday thrown into darkness that may last through the Yuletide period.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) reported on Friday that vandals brought down one of its electricity transmission towers in the area.
A statement by TCN General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, said the affected Tower T372 located around Katsaita Village in Yobe State brought down another 330kV transmission tower T373 along the same transmission line route.
Mbah said the incident was reported, just as the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, appealed to Nigerians to exercise their civic responsibility by monitoring and protecting power facilities in their areas and around the country.
The TCN spokesperson said the incident, which took place at about 21:18 hours, disrupted power supply to parts of the region and the adjoining communities in Yobe and Borno States.
“While patrolling the line to ascertain the cause of the cut in power supply, TCN engineers discovered the fallen towers, and the villagers confirmed they heard a loud explosion before the tower came down.
“On closer investigation, the engineers found evidence of explosives used by the vandals in bringing down the towers”, Mbah stated.
She said TCN has already mobilized one of its contractors to the site of the incident to commence immediate reconstruction of the transmission towers damaged by the vandals.
Reacting to the incident, the Minister of Power, Adelabu appealed to Nigerians perpetrating these illegal acts to desist from deliberate sabotage of the country’s power infrastructure capable of hindering government’s effort to provide regular electricity supply to Nigerians.
“We should not continue to be our own worst enemy,” ths+e Minister said.
He urged Nigerian to also protect government assets in their areas, adding that a comprehensive plan to protect the facilities would soon be unveiled by the government.
The government, he disclosed, was working on an appropriate legislation to tackle the menace of vandalism of government power infrastructure across the country.
Meanwhile, the TCN has strongly condemned the incident, while expressing regrets for the inconvenience caused to the government and people of Yobe and Borno States.
Mbah said the TCN management pledged to do all that is possible to quickly re-erect the towers to restore power supply to the affected areas.
“We are once again making an urgent appeal to host communities to collaborate with TCN in the fight against vandalism and the necessary preservation of power infrastructures nationwide, which is our collective asset,” she said.
