Grid Collapse: TCN appeals to host communities to join in fight against vandalism
Oredola Adeola
Following the national grid collapse that occurred at the weekend as a result of the vandalism of a tower along Odukpani/Ikot Ekpene 330kV transmission line, in Akwa Ibom state, the Transmission Company of Nigeria(TCN) has appealed to host communities across Nigeria to join government in the fight against those who are sabotaging electricity facilities and installations.
Engr. Sule Abdulaziz, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of TCN, made this known on Monday when he led the management of company for an on-the-spot assessment of the vandalized tower No. 104, in Oku Iboku Community, Itu Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
EnergyDay had earlier reported a nationwide outage which occurred on Friday extending to Sunday in some parts of the country. The Ministry of Power in a statement following the incident claimed that the system collapse was caused by an act of vandalism on a transmission line Odukpani/Ikot Ekpene which led to sudden loss of about 400mw from the grid.
However, the TCN MD during the visit, appalled to host communities to assist it in the fight against vandalism of our collective assets, by reporting suspicious activities around its operations to TCN offices or security operatives.
He also affirmed that grid has since been restored sequentially by the System Operator(SO), adding that electricity from other on-grid power plants are being dispatched to cover the lost generation capacity.
EnergyDay’s checks revealed that this is not the first time there would be system disturbance would be occurring on most transmission lines from Ikot Ekpene (Akwa Ibom) to Ugwuaji (Enugu) to Apir (Benue) to Jos line used to witness frequent disturbances.
The transmission lines and substations were built by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) under the National Integrated Power Project(NIPP).
