Electricity Transmission: TCN Bemoans N88bn Vandalisation Costs

Imagine what a well expended N88billion could do to electricity transmission efforts in the country; but that is how much it has wasted repairing vandalised infrastructure.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) gave the shocking reality at a public sensitisation at the Odogunyan 132Kv Transmission Substation in Ikorodu Lagos.

TCN’s Principal Manager, Lines, Engr. Seyi Onabajo, who gave the lowdown, noted that taxes meant to be paid to the government to rebuild and upgrade the power system is now being used for repairs of the damages.

“This is a wakeup call for the whole community and beyond to protect TCN infrastructures and report cases of vandalism to the appropriate authorities.

‘‘We cannot continue to spend so much on repairing vandalised power towers as the cost of building a tower from scratch is cheaper than the cost of repairing it” he added.

His concerns were echoed by General Manager, TCN Lagos region, Engr. Mojeed Akintola, who however acknowledged collaborating TCN towards seamless electricity transmission.

“So far, we are delighted with the response received from the community leaders, the security agencies which include the Nigerian police and Civil defense, steel companies around Ikorodu and some key community members.

“This level of awareness will be done quarterly, we will engage our local management to reach out to more community leaders and stakeholders around the area.

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“However, Ikorodu has been slated for upgrade but when there is a report of vandalism, the funds for those upgrades will be channeled to repair.

“Most times, these repairs take up to three to four months before it is completed leaving communities without power supply.

We have explained that once a tower is vandalised, the downtime is usually high, leaving a negative impact on our economy.

“The amount spent on repair is over triple the initial cost and some of the repairs done are not budgeted.”