The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) reported on Friday that the Presidential Villa and several central Abuja districts have been thrown into darkness due to increasing incidents of electricity cable theft.
In a joint statement with the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, TCN disclosed that vandals targeted a 132kV transmission line and underground cables supplying power to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and its surroundings.
The damaged 132kV underground cable, which transports bulk electricity to TCN’s Central Area transmission substation, was stripped of 40 meters of 1x500mm² XLPE conductors. This substation supplies power to eight distribution feeders under the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company.
Ndidi Mba, TCN’s General Manager, revealed that the theft occurred near Millennium Park, a short distance from the Presidential Villa. Areas affected by the outage include Maitama, Wuse, Jabi, Lifecamp, Asokoro, Utako, Mabushi, and sections of the Presidential Villa.
Mba assured that TCN engineers have been deployed to the site to repair the damaged cables and restore power to the affected locations.