Why National Grid Collapsed— TCN

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has revealed the actual event which led to the national grid collapse in the early hours of Sunday.

The TCN-operated grid capacity dropped from 2,407 megawatts to just 31MW by midday and to zero by 1 PM on Sunday.

This resulted in blackouts across various cities and states in the country.

In a statement signed by the TCN General Manager of Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, it said that the collapse was as a result of “vandalism” following a comprehensive investigation.

Mbah said, “The tower number 388 along the Jos-Bauchi, 132kV Single Circuit transmission line was vandalised, resulting in its collapse.

“The incident, suspected to have occurred on the first of February, 2024, at about 10:20 PM, led to a power outage in Yobe and Borno States”.

Revealing how the investigation was carried out, he said, “Following a line trip in Jos, Plateau State and bearing in mind past experiences associated with line tripping in that axis, the General Manager, Transmission of Bauchi Region, Engr. Tijjani Ahmadu invited the police anti-bomb squad and the Department of State Services (DSS) to accompany the TCN line crew and investigate the transmission line to find the cause of the tripping.

“Upon inspection, the team uncovered remnants of detonated explosives by vandals by the tower legs, which had exploded and caused the tower to collapse”.

Mbah also assured that the TCN has engaged contractors on an emergency basis to quickly mobilize to the site of the incident to commence the reconstruction and restringing of the affected line and tower.

“While TCN is determined to keep working at rehabilitating and further expanding the nation’s bulk power transmission network, to ensure consistent bulk power transmission, it is pertinent to note that the continued vandalism and theft of power equipment is a constant setback to the ongoing implementation of the transmission system expansion plan.

“This is because funds earmarked for grid expansion are usually diverted as a matter of emergency, to repair vandalized power infrastructure, and sometimes to avert grid collapse” he noted.