On Wednesday, Gombe State residents lamented a 48-hour power outage brought on by four 330kV towers that the wind had vandalized.
According to a statement made by the Transmission Company of Nigeria on Tuesday, at approximately 3:32 p.m. on April 22, four towers along the Jos-Gombe 330kV transmission line were vandalized.
The TCN revealed that when the 330kV transmission line tripped, its operators tried to put it back into service, but it tripped again. This prompted the dispatch of its linemen to trace the line in order to find and fix the fault, as stated in a statement by the General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah.
The TCN engineering team allegedly found that some tower members had been carted away and that towers 288, 289, 290, and 291 had been vandalized during fault tracing. In addition, the event had caused the towers to fall equally.The statement said, in part, that “the bulk power supply to portions of the franchise areas of Yola and Jos Electricity Distribution Companies has been disrupted currently, affecting the bulk power supply to Gombe, Yola, and Jalingo Substations.”
“The TCN is attempting to backfeed Gombe through its 132kV transmission line from Bauchi as well as Ashaka, Potiskum, Damaturu, and Billiri/ Savannah in order to lessen the impact of the incident on electricity consumers affected by the incident.”While efforts are being made to reconstruct the four vandalized towers, we will make every effort to ensure that supply is restored to the affected areas.”Gombe’s local Sharon Habu bemoaned the state of affairs, saying, “At the moment, we cannot find where to charge our electronic gadgets.” It is now necessary for us to support those who charge for their services in order to survive. The absence of the regular power hours has made life more difficult.
Speaking also, Haruna Saidu, a resident, mentioned that the cost of living had increased as a result of the power outage. “I cannot afford to keep my family in the dark, so I have to spend more money now. I now have to buy fuel to make sure I use my generator more,” he said.Mariam Simon, a trader, urged the TCN to complete the repairs in order to lessen the suffering of the locals.”We truly are in pain.
We cannot continue to be in the dark for two days or longer, so we need the TCN to finish the repairs quickly,” she continued.In response, Dr. Elijah Adakole, Head of Communications at Jos Electricity Distribution Company, asked customers to exercise more patience while work was being done.”The TCN is hard at work right now getting power back in Gombe.
They will transmit power once they have finished their work. More patience is something our customers should have,” he said.