Within just five days, vandals have destroyed and stolen components from at least 18 electricity towers that supply power across Rivers, Abia, and Kano states. This alarming development has significantly disrupted operations and hindered plans for grid expansion, according to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
The TCN revealed the incidents in a statement issued by Ndidi Mbah, General Manager of Public Affairs, on Sunday in Abuja. The statement emphasised that the damage undermines the company’s mission to provide Nigerians with reliable and uninterrupted power.
Between January 9 and 14, 2025, towers 171 through 181 and tower 184 along the Afam/Alaoji 330kV line in Rivers State were vandalised, as reported by Emmanuel Okpa, TCN’s General Manager for the Port Harcourt Region. Routine patrols on January 10 uncovered the destruction, which included the removal of key structural components.
In Abia State, towers 160 to 162 along the Alaoji/Umuahia 132kV line were targeted. Azuh Lucky, Head of the Lines Department, noted that bolts, nuts, and other critical parts were stolen during repairs on January 13. Meanwhile, Kano State saw severe damage to towers 105, 106, and 107 along the Katsina-Gazoua 132/33kV line on January 9, threatening their stability and risking collapse.
Additionally, on January 17, TCN engineers in Abuja discovered vandalism to 132kV underground cables near Millennium Park, affecting power to the central area. This outage extended to key locations, including the Presidential Villa and the Power Minister’s office.
The TCN described these acts of vandalism as a severe setback to national power infrastructure and called for urgent intervention to prevent further incidents.
