Vandalism of Power facilities blamed for frequent national grid collapse

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has linked the recurring collapse of the national grid to rising cases of vandalism of power installations across the country.

General Manager of TCN, Charles Iwuamadi, stated this in Benin City, Edo State, during a sensitisation programme held at Umelu community.

He also expressed concerns over the illegal erection of structures beneath high-tension transmission lines.

“Vandalism is directly proportional to the number of system collapses. A greater number of times when we have grid collapse, it is a result of vandalism,” Iwuamadi said. “In the last five years, vandalism has increased by over 30 per cent. If not for how we have been managing the system, the number of collapses would have doubled.”

He explained that transmission towers and lines were national assets critical to the movement of electricity across the country, stressing that the vandalism of a single line could cause outages in every network connected to it.

Speaking on the dangers of illegal structures under power lines, Iwuamadi warned that living under transmission towers exposed people to radiation, health hazards, and possible electrocution if a line snapped. “Human beings and structures cannot withstand the impact of a 330kV line. It is not only illegal but deadly,” he added.

While noting that demolition of such structures was always a last resort, he said TCN preferred sensitisation and community cooperation to punitive measures. He commended Umelu community for its peaceful stance along the 131-kilometre Benin–Onitsha transmission line and urged residents to sustain their support.

Also speaking, Deputy Commandant Suleiman Mohammed, Head of Critical National Assets Unit, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Edo Command, echoed the warning, reminding communities of their responsibility to protect government facilities.

“Any presence of government facilities in your place should be protected,” he said.