Yet to be identified vandals have blown up power transmission towers located along Katsina village in Yobe state, culminating into blackout in some parts of Yobe and Borno states.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) explained that one of its towers, tower T372 around Katsaita Village in Yobe State was vandalised, bringing down the 330kV transmission tower which pulled down tower T373 along the same transmission line route.
The incident, which took place at about 21:18 of the 21st of December, 2023, caused the failure of power supply to parts of the North East, namely, Yobe and Borno States.
A statement by the TCN General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs Ndidi Mbah, disclosed that 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.
She said on closer investigation, the engineers found evidence of explosive used by the vandals in bringing down the towers.
However, she said TCN had mobilized one of its contractors to the site of the incident to commence the reconstruction of the transmission towers damaged by the vandals.
“TCN strongly condemns the incident and regrets the inconvenience caused to the government and people of Yobe and Borno States and pledges 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 stated.