TCN Accuses Akwa Ibom Community Of Power Infrastructure Vandalism

 

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has accused the people of Oku Iboku in Itu Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State of being responsible for the vandalism of the electricity tower connecting the Odukpani-Ikot Ekpene 330KV Transmission line.

Recall that several Nigerian cities including the federal capital territory were thrown into darkness last Friday after the national grid collapsed for the fifth time this year.

The Regional Manager of TCN, Engr. Daniel Udofia, who made the allegation while taking journalists around the vandalized areas in Oku Iboku said the tower nuts were stolen, thus compromising the stability of the tower for a free fall.

Udofia, who is an indigene of the area said the theft has greatly affected the tower which was energized six years ago, He, therefore, challenged the people of Oku Iboku to rise up and protect the infrastructure if they were not guilty of the allegation

In his words “They destroyed the towers from the towers nuts. The tower has two legs. Anything that happens to one, the other will bend and once the stability is compromised, the tower will fall. That is exactly what happened here.

“I am from here, but this has never been the practice in this State. Because of this, we won’t be able to get the kind of supply we should. Cross River is completely out. it is condemnable. The people of Oku Iboku should rise up. If they say they are not involved, they should bring out those that are involved.”

The Managing Director of Transmission Company of Nigeria, Engr. Sule Abdulaziz while speaking decried the loss caused by the vandalism. He said besides the fact that electricity will now be rationed, over a million will go down the drain in a bid to rectify the problem.

“This is saddening for Nigeria as a nation. This was the reason for the blackout last week. This government is trying to secure infrastructure in this country but only one tower was brought down last Friday and the whole nation was put in darkness.

”It happened in Akwa Ibom but people in Katsina, Kano all felt the effect. The tower was brought down and the whole line went off-putting the whole country in darkness. The government cannot accept this.

”We have a power station generating almost 400 megawatts at Odukpani power station. We are not able to evacuate from there. If you put megawatts in naira, it is millions and in weeks, it is billions. A lot of money is wasted and there will be a lot of load sharing in the country. People will spend a lot of hours without light because of this singular act”. he said.

Abdulaziz, who insisted that the tower did not collapse as a result of faults or natural occurrences, said there was compelling evidence on the ground to show that the tower was vandalized.

”We can see from here that some of the tower members were removed. We have evidence. Even with the electricity, they could remove it. they gave distance. They did not go toward the conductor. It is the lower part of the tower that they vandalized and allowed it to fall.” he added

While admitting that at other times, there could be other causes for collapse like fault from the suspension line, interference from trees, the Managing Director explained that the TCN has been ensuring all lines and towers are maintained by cutting of all trees, making sure relay settings are okay and cooperation with generating companies to make sure they put their machines in order.

Abdulaziz who assured that TCN has already mobilized a contractor to repair the tower within a week, however, appealed to the people to take government property as theirs and safeguard it. He also appealed to the government of Akwa Ibom state to work with TCN to forestall such occurrences in future..

The Executive Director of TCN, Transmission Service Provider, Engr. Victor Adewunmi who was also in the team corroborated the call on the community and government to join hands in protecting government facilities for the good of everyone