Gift Ekwueme
Lagos – The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, says its power transmission lines in Cross River and Rivers states have been vandalised severally in the last two months.
TCN’s head in Port Harcourt, Dr. Thomas Inugonum, made the announcement while speaking about the issue to the press after an inspection of the company’s facilities.
He said the transmission part of the power system is super important and that it is, therefore, crucial that the lines used to move electricity are always safe.
He expressed the fact that in places like Calabar in Cross River State and Elelenwo in Rivers State, transmission lines have been damaged several times over two months until security agencies stepped in to help.
Dr. Inugonum said: “Many times, we suffer from people attacking the transmission lines, destroying it, removing parts of the towers, making us not to have the transportation done easily. I remember some time ago when I joined my colleagues in the bushes to see these failed transmission lines and what had caused it.
“We saw some hoodlums even attacking the gas pipeline as well as our transmission lines. If we were not lucky that day, they would have shot us. So, vandalization occurs virtually every time.
“The right of way of our transmission lines is another challenge we are having because most times the moment you come that you want to start a project, the community sees that there is movement here.”
He asked for the help of security agencies to assist in protecting electricity transmission assets in the states that TCN Port Harcourt office covers.
