The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says six of its power transmission towers along Delta-Benin and Delta–Sapele-Benin 330kV transmission line routes have been vandalised with some of the towers removed.

Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s General Manager, Public Affairs in a statement on Monday in Abuja said the vandalism, coupled with the heavy rainfall of March 17, caused the collapse of tower No 61 alone.

Mbah said when the transmission line tripped, a patrol team was dispatched to investigate the cause and investigations revealed that the tower had collapsed and its aluminum conductors were on the ground.

She said the patrol team also discovered that tower members of five other towers including the tower directly opposite tower 61 on the Ughelli – Benin line route were missing.

According to her, the Delta-Benin and Delta-Sapele-Benin 330kV transmission lines evacuate power from Transcorp power Limited, in Ughelli into the national grid.

“With the collapse of tower No 61 on Delta-Benin line, TCN is now evacuating the power through Delta – Sapele- Benin 330kV transmission line alone. Although the collapsed tower has not affected power evacuation, transmission lines redundancy is effected until the second line is restored,” she said.

She said TCN had been facing the challenge of repeated attacks by vandals on the Benin transmission line axis since December 2018.

Mbah said the company had also made formal reports to security operatives and to the traditional rulers in the area, including the King of Okpe Land and the Ovie of Oghara.

According to her, the traditional leaders equally held meetings with their subjects to address the menace of vandalism in the axis, but to no avail.

She, however, said TCN had already mobilised its quick response and repair engineering team to the site, noting that repair works on the affected towers would be completed in four weeks.

“TCN reiterates the need for host communities to watch over electricity installations in their domain, to forestall the destructive activities of vandals,” she said.

She also urged electricity customers nationwide to report any unusual activities around electrical installations to appropriate authorities (NAN)