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The General Manager of Transmission Service at TCN, Mr Ali Sharifa, who made this known yesterday in Keffi, Nasarawa State, at a workshop organised for journalists covering the power sector, lamented that 2024 and 2025 have been the most trying times for TCN concerning vandalism of its transmission line infrastructure by non-state actors.
He stated: “A total of 86 towers were vandalized in 2024, with 26 towers completely down, which left affected states in total darkness.
“While in the first and second quarters of 2025, a total of 42 acts of vandalism were recorded affecting a total of 178 towers.”
According to him the major effect of the vandalism is the disruption of power supply across the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry, as the generated power from the generation station could not be wheeled to the distribution ends.
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He added, “Other effects of vandalism include the increment of significant costs by the company due to repairs, replacement and the need for increased security measures to address vandalism.
“The company’s grid expansion efforts are hindered by acts of vandalism to pay contractors’ invoices used on repairs.
“And there is also the concern with public safety whenever transmission infrastructure is vandalised”.
Aside the activities of vandals, Sharifa added that natural disasters also hindered the free flow of electricity to the grid, as TCN recently recorded along Kainji-Birnin Kebbi 330kV SC (International) line.
He stated: “Six towers, T306, 1307, T308, T365, T366 and 1367 collapsed in May due to a windstorm and torrential rainfall.
“In the same May, Apir-Lafia-Jos 330kV DC Line Tower T137 had a twist (partial collapse) due to windstorm and torrential rainfall.”
Sharifa said that sabotage, political and economic reasons were responsible for these acts of vandalism.
He, however, said that the company was reaching out to locals where the transmission lines were prone to vandalism, adding that they were also engaging with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) after a series of vandalism in 2024.
“TCN reached out to ONSA for the protection of vulnerable transmission lines against vandalism. Some critical lines have been selected as pilot schemes for which state-of-the-art technology will be deployed to monitor and deter future vandalism,” he added.
