The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has confirmed a major power outage affecting the North East, North West, and parts of the North Central regions, citing ongoing fault tracing along the 330kV transmission lines as the cause. The blackout, which began on Monday, has left several states without electricity. TCN has attributed the delays in restoring power to challenging terrains and the sit-at-home directive in the South East, which hindered patrol teams from conducting fault tracing operations.
In a statement issued on Tuesday morning by TCN’s General Manager of Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, the company expressed regret over the situation, apologizing to both the government and electricity consumers in the affected areas. Mbah explained that the power outage occurred due to a fault that caused the 330kV Ugwaji–Apir double circuit transmission lines 1 and 2 to trip, resulting in a significant loss of power supply across the northern region.
“At approximately 4:53am, the Ugwuaji–Makurdi 330kV Line 2 tripped, transferring 243 MW to Line 1. Shortly after, Line 1 also tripped, resulting in a total loss of 468 MW,” Mbah said in the statement. Efforts to restore the lines were unsuccessful, as both lines tripped again after attempts to restart them at around 5:15am.
TCN dispatched two teams of engineers from Apir and Enugu to trace the fault along the 215-kilometer line, which includes 245 transmission towers. However, their progress was hampered by difficult terrain, including swamps and rivers, as well as security concerns in the area. Mbah noted that the Apir team reached as far as the River Benue without finding the cause of the outage, but continued their search the next morning.
Further complicating efforts, Mbah highlighted the impact of the IPOB sit-at-home directive in the South East, which disrupted operations and made it difficult to refuel patrol vehicles. “The lines patrol team from the Enugu Region was unable to commence patrol due to the ‘sit-at-home’ directive in the South East on October 21st and 22nd, 2024. This not only hindered the patrol team but also made it difficult to refuel patrol vehicles for long-distance line tracing,” the statement said.
Despite the challenges, TCN managed to restore supply to the 132kV transmission line from New Haven to Apir. However, the 330kV lines, which are critical to supplying power to the northern regions, remain out of service. TCN also reported that the Shiroro-Mando transmission line is down due to security concerns, further exacerbating the outage in the North.
The TCN assured the public that it is working diligently to locate and address the fault in order to restore power as soon as possible. “We reconvened early this morning with security operatives and have continued fault tracing to locate and address the cause of the line tripping,” Mbah added.
