Severe power outages hit parts of Nasarawa and Plateau states after vandals damaged six transmission towers and heavy rains further weakened the power network, leaving thousands of homes and businesses without electricity.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said six transmission towers on the Apir–Lafia 330kV corridor had been vandalised and collapsed, leaving both lines on the route out of service.
TCN said the towers — numbered T125 to T130 on Apir–Lafia 330kV Transmission Lines I and II — fell at about 1:15 a.m. on 30 May 2026 during a heavy downpour. The company said operators attempted a trial reclosure of Line II at 2:08 a.m. after the initial trip, but that the reclosure failed.
TCN said a physical trace of the lines was carried out to locate the fault and that the inspection revealed damage to critical components of towers T125 to T130, confirming acts of vandalism on the affected sections of the transmission corridor.
The TCN general manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, said both Apir–Lafia 330kV Transmission Lines I and II remained out of service pending reconstruction of the damaged towers, and that engineers had been mobilised to site to assess the extent of the damage and determine the materials required to restore normal transmission along the corridor.
TCN said the Lafia 330kV Transmission Station was being supplied through the Lafia–Jos transmission line as a temporary measure to minimise the impact of the outage on customers in the franchise areas of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) and Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC).
The company strongly condemned the continued vandalism of power transmission infrastructure, saying such acts undermined years of investment in the sector. It appealed to host communities and members of the public to remain vigilant and report suspicious activities around transmission installations to security agencies or the nearest TCN office, adding that collective action was essential to protect national grid assets and ensure reliable power supply.
