The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has reported a rise in infrastructure attacks, disclosing that 42 vandalism incidents were recorded in the first and second quarters of 2025, affecting a total of 178 transmission towers across the country.
General Manager of Transmission Service at TCN, Mr Ali Sharifa disclosed this on Thursday in Keffi during a presentation on infrastructure vandalism at a workshop organised for Power Correspondents.
According to him, 2024 and 2025 have been the most trying times for TCN as a responsive public utility due to vandalism of its transmission line infrastructure by non-state actors.
“A total of 86 towers were vandalized in 2024, with 26 towers completely down, which left affected states in total darkness.
“While in the first and second quarters of 2025, a total of 42 acts of vandalism were recorded affecting a total of 178 towers,” he said.
He said that besides the activities of vandals, natural disasters also hindered the free flow of electricity to the grid, as TCN recently recorded along Kainji-Birnin Kebbi 330kV SC (International) line.
“Six towers, T306, 1307, T308, T365, T366 and 1367 collapsed in May due to a windstorm and torrential rainfall.
“In the same May, Apir-Lafia-Jos 330kV DC Line Tower T137 had a twist (partial collapse) due to windstorm and torrential rainfall,” he said.
Sharifa said that sabotage, political and economic reasons were responsible for these acts of vandalism.
He listed the effect of TCN’s infrastructure vandalism to include disruption of power supply across the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry, as the generated power from the generation station could not be wheeled to the distribution ends.
“Other effects of vandalism include the increment of significant costs by the company due to repairs, replacement and the need for increased security measures to address vandalism.
“The company’s grid expansion efforts are hindered by acts of vandalism to pay contractors’ invoices used on repairs.
“And there is also the concern with public safety whenever transmission infrastructure is vandalised,” he said.
TCN seeks support from the National Security Adviser and communities
He, however, said that the company was reaching out to locals where the transmission lines were prone to vandalism, adding that they were also engaging with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) after a series of vandalism in 2024.
“TCN reached out to ONSA for the protection of vulnerable transmission lines against vandalism.
“Some critical lines have been selected as pilot schemes for which state-of-the-art technology will be deployed to monitor and deter future vandalism.
“Sensitization and sponsored programmes, jingles on both social and print media, including radio and television stations against vandalism of TCN assets, are reaching far and wide as Nigerians are now fully informed that TCN property is their property,” he said.
Sharifa said that sensitization had led to the arrest of vandals who were now facing prosecution.
What you should know
In February, the Federal Government announced plans to engage communities across Nigeria in efforts to curb the rampant vandalism of electricity assets, a major cause of grid collapses.
- This was disclosed by Adedayo Olowoniyi, Chief Technical Adviser to the Minister of Power, during an interview on Arise TV’s Prime Time.
- Olowoniyi highlighted the complexity of addressing grid collapses, attributing them to multiple factors, including aging infrastructure and persistent vandalism.
- He further revealed that the government is collaborating with the Office of the National Security Adviser and security agencies to explore diverse strategies for combating vandalism.
In November 2024, the Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu, attributed frequent grid collapses to vandalism and lack of maintenance in the past.
