Vandals Destroy Nine Transmission Towers, Set Blackouts In Abeokuta, Environs

Yet to be identified vandals have destroyed at least nine transmission towers of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), throwing the affected areas into blackouts.

OPTIMUM TIMES recalls that this marks the worst transmission tower destruction by vandals in recent time after about two years ago when Boko Haram terrorists blew up about five transmission towers near Maiduguri, Borno State Capital.

The latest destroyed transmission towers were situated within tower
56 to tower 65 along the Papalanto/Abeokuta 132KV transmission line which collapsed due to the activities of vandals.

A statement by the TCN General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs Ndidi Mbah, Tuesday night, lamented that “The towers located in the Obafemi Owode area of Ogun State were all massively vandalized, leading to their collapse.”

Quoting the General Manager (T) Lagos Region, Engr. Mojeed Akintola, Mrs Mbah said the towers collapse, were discovered Monday after a tripping was recorded, and a team was dispatched to trace the fault, which led to the discovery of the collapsed towers.

“As a result, Abeokuta and environs are presently out of power supply even as efforts are ongoing to supply bulk electricity through an alternate line, to enable Ibadan DisCo distribute electricity to its customers whose supply is affected by the incident”, Mbah further highlighted

She condemned the activities of vandals, stating that their naferious acts had negatively impacted on the gird expansion efforts of the company.

She expressed regrets that resources that would have been used to further improve the grid infrastructure in Ogun State would now be used to replace the vandalized towers.

However, TCN appealed to host communities to work with it to protect the country’s common national assets.