The incident highlights the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to unforeseen events and underscores the need for enhanced safety measures to prevent such occurrences.
A devastating incident occurred on Sunday in Gunduwawa, Gezawa Local Government Area of Kano State, when a truck collided with a facility owned by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), resulting in the collapse of a transmission tower.
According to a statement released by TCN spokeswoman Ndidi Mbah on Monday, the accident disrupted electricity supply infrastructure in the North-West region, causing a power outage.
The incident highlights the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to unforeseen events and underscores the need for enhanced safety measures to prevent such occurrences.
The statement reads: “A contractor has already been contracted to reconstruct the tower. He is expected to mobilise to the site of the incident on Tuesday. At about 9:28 a.m. on Sunday, the Kano-Hadejia 132 Kilo Volt (kV) Transmission Line tripped, losing about 16.6 (MW),” the statement read.
“Trial re-closure of the line to enable continued bulk power supply failed, prompting the immediate dispatch of a patrol team to survey the line. Our team found out that a trailer truck carrying a container had hit tower T16 situated in Gunduwawa and destroyed two legs of the tower, causing it to buckle and fall.”
Ndidi Mbah revealed that the truck crash had a cascading effect, causing a chain reaction of damage.
The impact led to the tripping of the power line, resulting in a loss of electricity supply. Furthermore, the fallen transmission tower struck a nearby container and damaged a portion of an adjacent residential building, highlighting the severity of the incident.
“Although no life was lost, the incident has been reported to Gezawa Divisional Police Station and the driver has also been detained. Unfortunately, this has put Hadejia, Gumel, Gagarawa, Nguru, Mallammadori, Birniwa, Kafin-Hausa, Auyo, Guri, Kaugama, Taura, Garki, Maigatari, Babura, Kirikasamma, Machina local government areas in Jigawa and Yobe states in darkness.
“Presently, there is no alternative source of bulk power supply to two of TCN’s substations, the Gagarawa and Hadejia substations. This means that the affected areas will not have supply until the tower is repaired,” TCN said.
The statement said TCN would do everything possible to dismantle the damaged tower quickly, erect a new one, and restrain the lines to enable the bulk power supply to the two substations to resume.
It said restoring the bulk supply would enable the Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) to offtake power for their customers within the affected areas.