By Adedapo Adesanya
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has said it was working assiduously to restore power in Northern Nigeria which after tripping caused power outages across the North East and North West and parts of the North Central regions of the nation.
TCN in a statement by its spokesman, Mrs Ndidi Mbah, said efforts were being made in collaboraton with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) to repair the vandalised Shiroro-Kaduna line that led to a reduction of bulk electricity to Kaduna, Kano and other major cities in the north.
The company also noted that it was confident that the bulk power supply would be restored as quickly as possible despite prevailing security challenges.
“TCN would like to state categorically that it is working diligently to restore bulk power supply as quickly as possible despite prevailing security challenges,” the statement read.
“The Shiroro-Kaduna transmission line, which supplies power to Northern Nigeria, was vandalized by insurgents & in response, TCN has partnered with the National Security Adviser’s office to secure the area, enabling her engineers to work safely on the restoration,” the statement said.
It also said the Executive Director for Independent System Operator, Mrs Nafisatu Ali, disclosed that deploying engineers without security support is not feasible, given the risks in the region.
She dispelled any suggestion that restoration would be indefinite, stressing that TCN’s focus remains on ensuring an even supply of electricity nationwide and that security arrangements were underway.
“The current outage affecting Northern states for several days now is a result of vandalism of the Shiroro-Mando transmission line, a critical infrastructure that supplies electricity to the region. Prevailing insecurity in the area has delayed the immediate repair necessary to restore supply.
“However, as a temporary measure, TCN had rerouted bulk power supply through the Ugwuaji-Apir 330kV line, which recently snapped. TCN has been collaborating closely with the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) to work with our engineers to access the vandalism site to enable them to effect necessary repairs. This is vital to ensure the safety of lives during the repairs,” the statement concluded.