Truck rams into TCN facility, collapses transmission tower in Kano

A truck accident has led to the collapse of a transmission tower owned by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), disrupting electricity supply in the North-West region.

The incident occurred on Sunday in Gunduwawa, located in the Gezawa Local Government Area of Kano State.

TCN spokeswoman Ndidi Mbah shared details of the incident in a statement on X on Monday, explaining that the crash caused significant damage to the infrastructure, resulting in a power outage affecting the area.

“A contractor has already been contracted to reconstruct the tower. He is expected to mobilize 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.”

According to Mbah, the crash caused the tripping of the line, cutting off supply as the tower fell on the container and hit a nearby residential building, damaging a part of it.

“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.