The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has issued a statement notifying residents of certain areas in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), of an upcoming six-hour blackout scheduled for Saturday, 10th February 2024.
The blackout is necessary to facilitate scheduled annual preventive maintenance on TCN’s 132kV line 1 at both Gwagwalada and Apo Transmission Substations.
In a statement released on Friday by TCN spokesperson Ndidi Mbah, it was explained that the maintenance work would affect the 132/33kV Kukwaba Transmission Substation for a period of six hours, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Areas expected to experience the blackout include parts of Lokogoma, Kabusa Garden, TradeMore, Pyakasa, Aherita, Chika, Games Village, Stadium, Wuye, Utako, Life Camp, and Idu.
Mbah expressed apologies in advance to residents of the affected areas, assuring them that power supply would be restored promptly upon completion of the maintenance work.
The scheduled maintenance comes as a proactive measure by TCN to ensure the reliability and efficiency of its transmission infrastructure. However, it may cause inconvenience to electricity consumers in the affected areas during the blackout period.
The TCN Gwagwalada-Kukwaba-Apo 132KV Transmission Line 1 in the Abuja axis has previously faced challenges, including an attack by suspected vandals in December. The vandalism occurred at night, resulting in the cutting off of bulk power supply on the line. TCN linesmen conducted an early morning investigation, revealing a vandalized portion of the line route between Tower 23 and Tower 25.
Residents are encouraged to bear with the temporary inconvenience caused by the scheduled maintenance and cooperate with TCN’s efforts to improve service delivery in the region.