Power supply has been disrupted in parts of Nigeria following the destruction of six transmission towers along the critical Apir–Lafia 330kV line in Nasarawa State by vandals, the Transmission Company of Nigeria has said.
The disclosure was made in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday by TCN’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah.
According to the statement, the incident occurred on May 30 at about 1:15 a.m. during heavy rainfall.
The company explained that the outage began after one of the transmission lines tripped, prompting a trial reclosure attempt to restore supply, which ultimately failed.
Further investigation and a physical inspection of the route revealed significant damage to key infrastructure spanning towers T125 to T130, confirming acts of vandalism along the corridor.
TCN said both Apir–Lafia 330kV Transmission Lines I and II are currently out of service pending the reconstruction of the damaged towers.
The company added that engineers have already been deployed to the site to assess the full extent of the destruction and commence restoration work.
“TCN engineers have been mobilised to site to assess the extent of damage and ascertain materials required to commence to restore normal transmission along the corridor,” she said.
Mbah said the company had put in place an alternative power supply arrangement to minimise the impact of the outage on electricity consumers connected to the affected network.
“Meanwhile, the Lafia 330kV Transmission Station is being supplied through the Lafia–Jos transmission line as a temporary measure to minimise the impact of the outage on affected electricity customers within the franchise areas of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) and Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC),” she said.
Vandalism of critical infrastructure continues to be a major challenge in Nigeria’s power sector, contributing to frequent outages, supply disruptions, and rising repair costs.
Similar incidents are also widespread in the telecommunications and oil and gas industries, where attacks on key facilities often disrupt service delivery.
