TCN laments incessant vandalism of transmission infrastructure

THE Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) at the weekend, lamented the incessant attacks on transmission infrastructure despite efforts made to increase transmission capacity.

This is coming on the heels of a recent vandalised ion at Tower 53, Itu-Adiabo 132kV transmission line located in a valley in Inuakpa, Odukpani Local Government Area in Cross Rivers State.

This was contained in a statement issued by the Company’s General Manager, Ndidi Mbah in Abuja.

According to her, the vandals cut down the transmission tower which TCN had earlier taken out for transmission lines re-conducting to enhance its capacity.

She said the vandalized tower was discovered by TCN engineers around 3pm on the 16th of November, 2017, while on transmission lines patrol.

“This act of vandalism is a clear unpatriotic act of sabotage against the transmission expansion initiatives of the present management of the company.

Itu- Adiabo132kV transmission line which emanates from the Adiabo transmission station is the second transmission line through which power is supplied to Calabar and environs,” the statement partly reads.

She however stressed that although Calabar is currently being fed from the Adiabo-Calabar 132kV transmission substation, the vandalized tower enables TCN back-feed Calabar when a fault or transmission lines tripping occur.

Mba lamented that the company has continued to spend funds meant for projects expansion on replacing vandalized costly transmission equipment and lines lost to activities of vandals, which is anti-progressive.

“Security operatives are already at the site of the incident, to assess the damage and conduct further investigations. TCN is unrelenting in its efforts to serve the nation and will continue to diligently pursue its planned transmission rehabilitation and expansion programme, in line with the Federal government’s strategy on incremental power.

“TCN appealed to host communities of its installations to assist it in the safeguard of its installations and to report to the nearest security office, suspicious activities around its installations,” the statement reads.