The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has come under serious criticism following the recent power outage that hit the major cities in the North west zone of the country
Major cities in KADUNA, Katsina and J8ga2a states have been hit by total black out, following the recent power outage in the states
This is even as the Northern Senators’ Forum (NSF) has urged the Federal Government to promptly intervene to restore electricity supply in the affected states.
Chairman of NSF, Senator Abdulaziz Yar’Adua, stated this in a statement in Abuja at the weekend.
Yar’adua decried the situation of electricity supply in the three states, saying that the power outage was occasioned by vandalism and national grid disturbances.
He said that the situation had brought economic hardship and compromised healthcare delivery, thus resulting in the citizens incurring more fuel expenses.
According to him, while small businesses are struggling to operate, hospitals are equally experiencing increased running costs, thereby negatively impacting livelihoods.
The senator said that NSF acknowledged the progress made in power distribution so far under the present administration and appreciated its efforts to improve the sector.
He, however, said that the situation needed urgent attention to alleviate the sufferings of the constituents and revitalise economic activities in the axis.
“The Northern Senators’ Forum respectfully requests the Federal Government to expedite and prioritise repairs on the Shiroro-Kaduna transmission lines to restore reliable power supply,” he said.
This, Yar’Adua said, was also imperative to enhance security, implement measures to prevent future vandalism and protect power infrastructure.
As the TCN battles to restore power to the states, a Northern groups described the outage as calculated and deliberate effort to destroy the region.
CNG in a statement signed on Sunday by its National Coordinator, Comrade Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi, noted that the blackout is unprecedented and has thrown millions of households into darkness, crippled businesses, and worsened the already dire economic situation in the region.
This the TCN has however dismissed as false, even as it blamed vandals and unscrupulous elements of being behind the ugly incidence
The CNG regretted that the power outage has caused the death
of several patients at various hospitals due to the unavailability of the hospitals to supply alternative means of power to utilise Oxygens to save the lives of patients in severe and critical conditions.
“Preliminary findings by the CNG indicate that this outage is the direct result of vandalism on the second Shiroro power line, which feeds the crucial Kaduna Station that distributes to other states in the North. We learnt too that the first other line has been faulty for months. Yet, no effort to fix it could have saved the current avoidable situation.
“We are particularly disheartened to learn that two towers along this line have not received serious attention at the beginning of the problem to promptly restore power. Furthermore, the only alternative source of supply, the Jos line, has repeatedly tripped, which the TCN currently said is working to fix, but cannot bring about a lasting solution. The current state of affairs is not just unacceptable but deeply alarming,” CNG noted.
According to the CNG, experts said that there is also a significant infrastructural gap as there is no transmission system to carry sufficient power to the North West and North East regions.
The Coalition said despite the establishment of the Transmission Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme (TREP), aimed at creating flexibility in transmission with a budget of $1.661 billion, mismanagement has hindered its progress.
“Additionally, over $500 million in savings, intended to support the Eastern Backbone transmission project—which would have connected key areas such as Sokoto, Kaura Namoda, Katsina, and beyond—has been mismanaged, further delaying essential connectivity.
“With the destruction of the two 330kV single circuit (SC) lines between Shiroro and Kaduna, only one single circuit from Jos to Kaduna now supplies the entire North West. Similarly, the North East depends on a single circuit line, the Jos-Gombe 330kV, meaning both regions face severe limitations in power transmission infrastructure,” the statement said.
The group stated further that it observed that the North, which accounts for a significant portion of Nigeria’s population and economic activity, is underserved in terms of electricity infrastructure and distribution.
They said the region relies on only two 330kv lines, while Lagos alone benefits from eight power lines. This disparity according to CNG reflects a pattern of long-standing neglect and imbalance in national power infrastructure investment.
“In addition, the current DisCo Load Allocation is alarmingly skewed. DisCos operating across the North—including Jos (60 MW), Kaduna (50 MW), Kano (20 MW), and Yola (30 MW)—receive only 160 MW out of the existing 4,249 MW capacity. In stark contrast, Lagos’s Eko and Ikeja DisCos cumulatively receive about 1,400 MW, while Ibadan, Benin, Enugu, and Port Harcourt also benefit from significantly higher allocations. This allocation imbalance not only limits the North’s development potential but also reveals a pattern of systematic neglect,” it noted.
The CNG regretted that the current outage has, in the last 120 hours, pushed the already struggling industries to the brink of collapse, with businesses suffocating under prolonged power failure.
“Our people, who are already grappling with economic challenges, cannot continue to bear the brunt of such systemic inefficiencies. Hospitals can no longer save lives but allow patients to die helpless.
“The CNG calls on the Federal Government, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), northern governors, lawmakers and all relevant stakeholders to immediately expedite efforts to ensure power is restored to the North. This unacceptable outage must be treated with the urgency it deserves.
“We also demand a comprehensive review of the current electricity distribution framework to ensure fair and equitable access to power across all regions of the country. We call on the FG, TCN, and Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to explain the rationale behind this lopsided allocation, given that the North is home to most of Nigeria’s hydropower stations. It is incomprehensible that the North is left with a minimal share of national power, especially considering the region’s critical role in the country’s power generation infrastructure.
“The CNG calls for increased investment in Northern Nigeria’s power infrastructure, especially in distribution. The current situation glaringly shows that the North has been left behind for too long, with insufficient electricity to meet the needs of its people and economy. We will not stand idly by while the region is further marginalised.
“The CNG, which consistently challenged the Government on its failure to honour the agreement of developing similar infrastructure in the North, has been vindicated with the consequences that has just started to manifest in the current complete blackout which will continue to haunt the entire northern Nigeria and stifle its development efforts for may years to come unless it is tackled head on and instantly.
“Hence, the CNG, as a matter of priority, charges the northern governors, senators, house of representative members to eschew their differences and work together and demand a fair investment in power plants in the North because their resources had been utilized for power plants development in the south.
“The time has come for decisive action. We urge the Government to not only restore electricity immediately but also to prioritize the North in power projects and infrastructural development plans. Anything less would be a betrayal of the region’s right to equitable development and fairness in national power resource allocation, which is totally unacceptable.
“The CNG reminds state governments, lawmakers and other political elite from the North of the need to take up this matter with the President directly and collectively as a matter of immediate and grave concern,” the statement added.
But reacting to the development, the TCN attributed the total black out to the unpatriotic acts of unscrupulous individuals who are bent on sabotaging the efforts of the Federal Government of Nigeria for their own selfish ends and not as a result of negligence
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in a statement on Sunday, stated that two towers along its 330kv Shiroro-Kaduna transmission lines one and two have been vandalized, damaging parts of both transmission lines.
According to reports from the Shiroro Regional office of TCN, the 330kv transmission line one tripped first, followed shortly by the second, as efforts were still ongoing to reclose the first line, prompting the urgent mobilization of local vigilantes to patrol the lines. This led to the discovery of two damaged towers, towers T133 and tower T136 with their cables badly damaged at several points.
It however noted that it’s management have moved swiftly to deploy the newly procured “emergency restoration system” to the site, pending the reconstruction of the damaged towers; the TCN management have also conducted aerial survey in collaboration with security agencies given the areas vulnerability to banditry, which poses a significant threat to both TCN installations and personnel. Meanwhile, as observed, TCN engineers have implemented a temporal measure to supply bulk power to the Kaduna and kano regions via the 330kv Kaduna-Jos transmission lines.
“The vandalized Shiroro-Kaduna lines 1&2 are vital lines through which bulk power is transmitted to parts of the North West Region, with each line capable of carrying 600MW. The vandalism of the Towers and transmission lines present a significant challenge to bulk power transmission in that axis. And as explained by the General Manager Public Affairs Mrs. Ndidi Mba, the TCN management is committed to restoring bulk power transmission through both 330KV power transmission lines in the shortest possible time.
“These people are enemies of the nation and must be treated as such”, he lamented. Another fellow decried the huge costs at replacing these vandalized properties.
“No matter what, this is coming at extra unbudgeted cost for the TCN management”, said Isah Inuwa.
“But in an unprecedented move to end the decades old struggle with the National Grid, the TCN management have unveiled the cutting-edge advanced Supervision Control and Data Acquisition system for managing the national grid known as the SCADA technology. The SCADA system is not just a symbolic development, it represents the governments unwavering commitment towards addressing some of the issues holding the power sector down.
“For this reason, stakeholders across the sector have hailed the federal government and the Ministry of Power for taking this bold step and have urged them to go the whole hog and democratize the power supply lines.
“There is no TCN official who will deliberately vandalize transmission lines for any reason”, said the analysts, who further explained that officials of TCN are human beings and not robots! The analyst called on those wishing to exploit the situation to think twice otherwise the law will take its course”
