Attacks against electricity transmission towers, particularly in the country’s north, are considered acts of terrorism and would be dealt with by security personnel, according to Chief Adebayo Adelabu, Minister of electricity.

Speaking at a briefing hosted by the Transmission Company of Nigeria in Abuja, Chief Adebayo clarified that although assaults on transmission lines were not new, terrorists were responsible for the recent wave that has left 15 northern states without grid electricity.

However, he gave consumers in the country’s northern regions his word that the restricted supply will be restored by this weekend, with the broken Shiroro-Mando line anticipated to be repaired in around six weeks.

Speaking at a briefing hosted by the Transmission Company of Nigeria in Abuja, Chief Adebayo clarified that the government was making every effort to re-establish the northern corridor’s electricity supply.

By this effort, he said, at least 400 megawatts of power will be accessible by the weekend.

Therefore, I can guarantee that light will return to the north by the end of this week. We’re looking at other options, and we’re hopeful that light will return to the north in a few days,” he said.

“We (will) still continue to work on the vandalised lines,” he promised. This must have had an impact on more than simply lines. Before the direct power can demonstrate that they are standing correctly in front of the light flowing to the south, we know that a lot of individual work has to be completed in the initial sections. Therefore, more than 70 to 80 percent of the afflicted northern area will get light in just two or three days. That is the guarantee we provide you.

We will continue to experience problems along that line. Vandalism has happened there previously, but no one noticed because we restored it in a few of days. However, due to security concerns, the repairs were postponed and the damage was more serious this time.

We’re merely asking our brothers to assist us safeguard this equipment since the funds that could have been allocated to other projects are being needed to fix the damaged infrastructure, Chief Adebayo continued. Hopefully, the light will be restored by the end of the week, since we are working on it. As we continue to repair the vandalised towers, we’re looking at other options,” he continued.

The minister pointed out that the National Assembly is considering a law that would punish vandals with the death penalty.

We want these perpetrators to face harsher penalties. Additionally, we must consider halting the nation’s scrap metal sales. Because they get these items at a discount from criminals, they are the ones that promote damage.

Engr. Abdulaziz Sule, the Managing Director/CEO of TCN, stated previously that TCN engineers were putting in a lot of effort to get supplies back to the north.

“The areas where the towers were felled were very dangerous,” he said, bemoaning the difficult working conditions that the TCN employees had to endure.

On September 9, 2024, Shiroro-Mando 330kv line 1 tripped. Although a patrol of the safe region was conducted, the unsafe part was inaccessible because of the lack of protection. Local vigilantes were used in an attempt to verify that there were snap conductors on a tower, but they were unable to determine the tower number. In order to avoid the bandits at the site, plans were developed to have our engineers be escorted by the local gang to do repairs throughout the night. Unfortunately, the bandits discovered our plans and besieged the location, so we were unable to succeed.

The second circuit was used to maintain a minimum supply to the North-West corridor until October 13, 2024, when the second line tripped and failed to remain on trial reclosure. Local vigilantes were called in once more to search the area, but they were only able to enter a portion of the secure zone. In order to identify the affected towers, TCN requested assistance from the Nigeria Air Force, Kaduna, for unmanned aerial surveillance on October 17, 2024. Three of the four (4) numbers were crumpled, and one was twisted.

In a similar occurrence, on October 21, 2024, it was reported that vandalism had occurred on the 330kV Ugwuaji-Apir lines, causing the lines to trip. Trial closure was unsuccessful, and patrol found vandalised conductors. Since these lines connect the Northern and Southern regions, this made it more difficult to transmit bulk electricity to the Northern corridor. The wheeling capacity of TCN was significantly impacted by this disruption.

The Nigerian Army has assisted in securing the damaged region, and a concentrated effort is being made on one of the lines to restore it. TCN will be able to spin around 400MW of power in that corridor if one of these lines is restored. Additionally, TCN is working harder to fix and reopen the second line on Ugwuaji–Apir by Sunday, November 3, 2024, at the latest. As a result, TCN will be able to transport a significant amount of power from Apir to Jos, Kaduna, and Kano.

“To sum up, TCN is collaborating with ONSA to ensure the safety of workers and the site on Shiroro-Mando 330kV SC lines in order to start the rehabilitation of affected towers in this axis,” he said.