Electricity: Bayelsa faces months of blackout as vandals destroy 13 TCN towers

The rising spate of attacks on power infrastructures continued yesterday with vandals destroying 13 transmission towers along the Ahoada-Yenagoa 132kV Double Circuit transmission line across several communities in Rivers and Bayelsa states.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, in a statement in Abuja said it will take months to replace the towers and re-string them in order to restore power supply to Bayelsa State.

TCN General Manager, PublicAffairs, Ndidi Mbah said the incident was first reported by the Youth President of the Ukpeli Community in Rivers State on August 12, 2024.

According to her, the Port Harcourt region of TCN, led by General Manager of Transmission, Engr. Emmanuel Akpa, visited the site near TCN’s Ahoada Transmission Substation to assess the situation.

“The team confirmed that thirteen towers, from T52 to T64, were affected by vandalism. Of these, nine towers have collapsed completely, while four are hanging precariously and could collapse at any moment”, she added.

The Managing Director/CEO of TCN, Engr. Abdulazeez mmmmm, described the incident as a national disaster and urged the governments of Rivers State and Bayelsa State to assist the company in addressing the ongoing vandalism of its installations, which has become increasingly alarming and overwhelming.

He noted that TCN had recently responded to the vandalism and subsequent collapse of towers T97 to T99 on the same line route on July 29, 2024, with work still ongoing to rebuild the vandalized towers.

“Additionally, a new contract was recently awarded for the reinforcement of towers 19-31 on the Ahoada-Yenagoa line, where tower members had been vandalized and stolen. Despite these ongoing efforts, the recent vandalism of the thirteen towers presents a significant challenge to TCN.

“The thirteen 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 company added.