By Onu Okorie

Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has declared a force majeure event on the 330kV Kainji–Birnin Kebbi Transmission Line, following the collapse of one of its transmission towers amid heavy winds and rainstorms.
According to a press statement signed by the Company’s management, the line first tripped at 10:44 p.m. on Monday, 7 September 2026. TCN engineers attempted a trial reclosure at 11:07 p.m., but the line tripped again shortly after.
The repeated trips prompted linesmen from TCN’s Birnin Kebbi Sub-Region to embark on a fault-finding patrol along the transmission corridor. The team discovered on Tuesday, 8 September, that Tower T367 had collapsed.
Heavy Winds, Rainstorms Blamed
Preliminary findings attributed the tower’s collapse to severe weather conditions in the area, including heavy winds and rainstorms. TCN said the incident disrupted the transmission of bulk electricity through the affected corridor, and cited the natural disaster as grounds for invoking force majeure on the line.
The company said it has begun mobilising personnel, equipment and other resources to the affected site to rehabilitate the collapsed tower and restore the line to service as quickly as possible, though no specific timeline was given.
Sokoto Supply Maintained via Alternative Route
TCN said electricity supply to Sokoto has, in the interim, been sustained despite the outage. The Talata Mafara–Sokoto corridor is currently being fed through an alternative transmission path routed from the Kaduna–Mando axis via the 132kV Zaria–Funtua–Gusau line, the company said.
TCN apologised for any inconvenience the development may cause electricity consumers and other stakeholders, and assured the public that every effort is being made to restore normal bulk power transmission service in the shortest possible time.