Total blackout in Abuja as truck rams into TCN transmission tower

Public power supply to parts of Abuja, the nation’s capital, has been disrupted following the destruction of a transmission tower at the outskirts of the city by a truck.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, in a statement explained that the truck loaded with “gravel that lost control and crashed into TCN’s 132kV transmission tower No 20, supplying bulk electricity to the 100MVA part of the Katampe Substation and 2x60MVA GIS Central Area Substation”.

The areas affected include Maitama, Wuse, Central Area, and some parts of Garki.

TCN said its engineers were working “assiduously” to put in place a bypass from the Katampe Substation to the GIS substation in the Central Area to restore power supply to the area and environs.

The statement issued by TCN’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, explained that the incident which occurred at about 2.55pm on Tuesday, brought down the tower, “but did not record any loss of life.

“Attempts are being made by TCN engineers to remove the conductors presently lying on the road to ensure ease of movement around the area.”

“Presently TCN engineers are at the site of the incident and are already assessing the level of damage and attempting to put in place remedial installation in the form of a temporary by-pass to restore electricity supply to the affected areas”.