The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has announced planned power interruptions in parts of Niger and Edo states while reporting the arrest of a suspected vandal at its Benin 330kV switchyard.
Maintenance work at the Suleja 132/33kV Transmission Substation began at 9 a.m. on Thursday and is scheduled to end at 4 p.m. on Friday. The exercise involves replacing the primary circuit breaker on a 7.5MVA transformer.
As a result, customers in NNPC, Meter Works, Gawaraka, Minna Road, Dikko, Madalla, Tungan Maje, Dakwa, Suleja and surrounding communities may experience interruptions.
Residents of Jere, Tara and Sabon Wuse were also expected to face a temporary outage of about 90 minutes to allow the movement of a crane.
In Okpella, maintenance on a 60MVA transformer and related switchgear was scheduled to cause a five-hour interruption, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., affecting Okpella Town, the Cement Factory and nearby areas.
Meanwhile, TCN said security personnel arrested 24-year-old Wisdom Amaunam on October 22 after allegedly catching him removing cables and wires from a marshalling kiosk at the Benin switchyard.
He was handed over to the NSCDC’s Critical National Assets and Infrastructure Unit and remains in custody pending investigation.
TCN urged the public to report suspicious activity around transmission facilities and reaffirmed its zero- tolerance policy towards vandalism, trespassing and sabotage.