VANDALS have destroyed nine transmission towers of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in Ogun state, throwing the affected areas into blackouts.
The vandalism is believed to be the worst transmission tower destruction since two years ago when Boko Haram terrorists blew up about five transmission towers near Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.
The destroyed towers were situated between tower 56 and tower 65 along the Papalanto/Abeokuta 132KV transmission line, in the Obafemi Owode area of the state.
A statement by the TCN general manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, on Tuesday, May 23, said the towers were “all massively vandalized, leading to their collapse.”
Quoting the general manager, Lagos Region, Mojeed Akintola, Mbah said the collapsed towers were discovered on Monday, May 22 after a tripping was recorded, and a team was dispatched to trace the fault.
“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 stated.
She condemned the activities of vandals, stating that their nefarious acts had negatively impacted on the company’s grid expansion efforts.
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.
The TCN has appealed to host communities to work with it to protect the country’s common national assets.
