By Mary Izuaka

 

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said six of its transmission towers, from T125 to T130, on Apir–Lafia 330kV transmission lines I and II, have been vandalised.

The TCN General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, made this known in a statement on Tuesday.

Ms Mbah said the collapse occurred at about 1:15 a.m. on Saturday, 30th May, during a heavy downpour.

She said trial reclosure of line II was made at 2:08 a.m. following the initial tripping and failed.

She explained 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,” she said.

She noted that the TCN engineers have been mobilised to the site to assess the extent of damage and ascertain the materials required to commence restoring normal transmission along the corridor.

Meanwhile, she said 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 strongly condemns the continued vandalism of power transmission infrastructure as it undermines years of investment in the sector.

“We appeal 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,” she said.

In recent years, vandalism has become a significant threat to Nigeria’s power infrastructure.

Last month, the TCN said it recorded no fewer than 276 cases of tower vandalism between 2022 and 2025.