The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), has said the insurgency and vandalism is posing a major threat to transmission towers in the country.
Ambrose Sule, the Environment Reporters/Transmission Company of Nigeria stated this at a media parley in Abuja on the theme: “TCN Programmes and Achievements”.
He said, “Some of these towers and lines pass through land mines in insurgency prone areas, which is inevitable as the lines must convey electricity to citizens. These difficult terrains negatively impact transmission towers and also make it easy to vandalize the towers and lines underscoring the need for emergency procurement,” he said.
According to him, TCN has over 1,80OKM of 330kV and 132kV high voltage transmission lines, And transmission towers traversing the entire nation, and several through very Difficult terrains including swamps, forests, areas prone to flooding which cause Rapid erosion of tower bases, and natural disasters.
Sule, while debunking rumours that the TCN had inflated contracts and prices, clarified some issues.
He recalled that the attention of the Management of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has been drawn to a publication alleging that specific contracts termed Emergencies and were not awarded in line with the procurement guidelines.