Mohammed Shosanya
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has assured the North East Governors Forum (NEGF) that it is doing everything possible in to ensure the restoration of power supply to the North Eastern axis of Nigeria.
Ndidi Mbah, the General Manager, Public Affairs, conveyed the assurance in a statement on Tuesday.
She reiterated TCN’s displeasure over the development and appealed for patience while the engineers battle to rebuild the four towers destroyed by vandals.
She said:”We are acutely aware that the lack of power supply presents significant difficulties and challenges, and we understand the concerns of the governors for their people and the day-to-day running of governance and businesses. We are not happy about the situation.
“Our team has been tirelessly working to rebuild the four towers destroyed by vandals, and we will not rest until power is restored to all the affected areas. We appeal for a little more patience, as work is truly advancing. We are pushing our contractors very hard to ensure we deliver on our promise of rebuilding the towers and energizing the transmission line.
“Despite the recent increase in vandalism, we have continued to rebuild towers each time they are damaged and have consistently restored supply. The four vandalized towers on the Gombe axis are no exception. Despite our prevailing poor liquidity, we have mobilized all necessary resources to ensure this job gets the attention it requires.
“To expedite the work, we have insisted that the contractor put in place and on-site machines that will help increase the fabrication processes of tower members which is ongoing. A visit to the site will show that the towers are nearing completion, with one tower at 90% completion, another at 80%, a third at 60%, and the fourth at 40%.
“We are utilizing all available daylight hours for the work. However, due to security issues, we are unable to work through the night, which we would have gladly done. Nevertheless, we are optimistic about completing the reconstruction and energizing the line within the given time frame. We expect power supply to be restored by May 27, 2024, through the new 330kV transmission line, allowing Yola and Jos DisCos to offtake and distribute optimally from TCN substations.
“Again,we appeal for your patience and sincerely assure you that we are working very hard to complete the work within the timeframe. It is our joy to serve you and the nation at large, and we would be truly happy and grateful to God for the quick completion of the work. Please bear with us”.