A major power outage has impacted the North East, North West, and parts of the North Central regions of Nigeria following the tripping of two 330kV transmission lines operated by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
The incident occurred at around 4:53 a.m. on October 22, 2024, when the Ugwaji–Apir Double Circuit lines 1 and 2 experienced faults, leading to a total loss of 468 megawatts of power.
According to TCN, the initial fault occurred on Line 2 of the Ugwuaji–Makurdi 330kV line, which tripped at 4:53 a.m., transferring 243 MW of load to Line 1.
However, just five minutes later, at 4:58 a.m., Line 1 also tripped, cutting off the remaining load.
Efforts to restore power by attempting to reset both lines at 5:15 a.m. and 5:17 a.m. were unsuccessful, as both tripped again due to the same fault.
Following the outage, TCN dispatched two teams of engineers to begin fault tracing along the 215-kilometre transmission route, which includes 245 towers.
One team, operating from the Apir Transmission Sub-region, has already patrolled challenging terrains, including swamps and rivers, as far as the River Benue, in search of the fault.
Meanwhile, the team from the Enugu transmission region was delayed in starting its patrol due to the ‘sit-at-home’ directive in the South East, which not only restricted movement but also hampered access to fuel for patrol vehicles.
TCN confirmed that power has been restored to the 132kV transmission line from New Haven to Apir, but the two 330kV lines remain out of service, leaving much of Northern Nigeria without power.
Compounding the issue, the Shiroro-Mando transmission line, which supplies power to parts of the North, is also down due to ongoing security concerns in the area.
In a statement, Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s General Manager for Public Affairs, reassured the public that the company is making every effort to trace the fault and carry out repairs as soon as possible.
She noted that patrol teams would have continued their search overnight if not for the challenging and insecure terrain, but they have since resumed fault tracing early this morning, supported by security operatives.
TCN apologised to the government and electricity consumers for the outage and affirmed its commitment to restoring bulk power supply as quickly as possible.
