Residents of Gombe State on Tuesday decried over 24 hours of power outage, caused by four 330kV towers that were vandalised by wind.
Recall that the Transmission Company of Nigeria had stated that four towers along the Jos-Gombe 330kV transmission line have been vandalised at about 3:32Pm on 22nd April, 2024.
According to a release by the General Manager Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, TCN disclosed that when the 330kV transmission line tripped, its operators attempted to restore it to service but it tripped again, prompting the dispatch of TCN lines men to trace the line in order to detect and rectify the fault.
While fault tracing, TCN’s engineering crew discovered that
towers 288, 289 , 290, and 291 were vandalised and that some tower members were carted away. Also, the towers had equally collapsed as a result of the incident.
The statement partly read, “Presently, bulk power supply to Gombe, Yola, and Jalingo Substations have been disrupted, affecting bulk power supply to parts of Yola and Jos Electricity Distribution Companies’ franchise areas.
“To mitigate the effect of the incident on electricity consumers affected by the incident, TCN is trying to first backfeed Gombe through its 132kV transmission line from Bauchi and also Ashaka, Potiskum, Damaturu, and Billiri/ Savannah.
“We will do everything possible to ensure that supply is restored to the affected areas, while efforts are made to reconstruct the four vandalised towers.”
Lamenting the situation Sharon Habu, said “Currently we can’t find where to charge gadgets. We now have to patronise those charging for living just to keep life going. Life has become harder without the usual hours of power.”
Also speaking, Haruna Saidu, noted that cost of living has become more expensive of the power outage, “I now have to spend more money because I can’t afford to leave my family in the dark. I now have to buy fuel to ensure I use generator.”
On her part, Mariam Simon, urged TCN to round off the repairs to reduce the suffering of residents.
“We are really suffering. We need TCN to complete the repairs because we can’t continue to remain in the dark for two days or more,” she added.
Meanwhile, Head of Communications Jos Electricity Distribution Company Dr Elijah Adakole, called on customers to be patient as work was ongoing.
“TCN is currently working assidiously to restore power in Gombe. Once they are done power will be transmitted, our customers should be patient,” he said.
