Vandals have caused significant damage to the nation’s power grid with the destruction of 13 transmission towers along the crucial Ahoada-Yenagoa 132kV Double Circuit transmission line. The Transmission Company of Nigeria reports that the sabotage will result in a prolonged blackout for Bayelsa State, with potential outages also affecting parts of Rivers State.
The Ahoada-Yenagoa transmission line is essential for delivering power to Bayelsa State, making its destruction a significant concern for both the transmission company and the affected regions. TCN’s General Manager of Public Affairs issued a statement highlighting the major concerns of the TCN as well as urging government participation in combating vandalism.
The situation was discovered after a team led by the General Manager of the Port Harcourt Transmission region, Emmanuel Akpa, visited the site, and saw that all 13 towers from T52 to T64 were affected. Among the 13 vandalized towers, nine towers have collapsed completely, while four others are on the brink of collapse.
The statement noted that the incident was first reported by the Youth President of the Ukpeli Community in Rivers State on August 12, 2024. The Ahoada-Yenagoa 132kV Double Circuit Transmission line is crucial for transporting power from the Ahoada Transmission Substation to the Yenagoa Substation, which supplies electricity to the entire Bayelsa State.
Noting further that, given the scale of the destruction and the ongoing repair work on previously vandalized towers, TCN estimates that it could take several months to rebuild and rest the damaged towers, leaving Bayelsa State without power for an extended period.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of TCN, Sule Abdulaziz, described the incident “as a national disaster” as he urged the governments of Rivers and Bayelsa states to assist TCN to curb the vandalism of its installations which has been “increasingly alarming and overwhelming.”
Abdulaziz expressed concern that this latest attack comes at a time when TCN is still working to restore towers T97 to T99, which were vandalized along the same transmission line on July 29, 2024.
Abdulaziz lamented that TCN had recently awarded a contract for the reinforcement of towers 19-31 on the Ahoada-Yenagoa line, where tower members had been previously vandalized and stolen. Despite these efforts, the recent destruction of 13 additional towers poses a substantial setback.
According to the statement, the 13 vandalized towers are located in several communities, including Okobe in Ahoada East, Emezhi 1 in Ahoada West, and Mbiama in Ahoada West Local Government Areas of Rivers State, as well as the Igbogene community in Bayelsa State.
The widespread vandalism highlights the challenges power distribution companies face in electricity distribution and the ongoing madness that has led to multiple saboteurs of power grids. It also points to the prevalence of poverty, suffering, and insecurity in Nigeria which is the major cause of the recurring vandalism of power towers across the country.
