Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
Residents of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, received the restoration of electricity this evening with excitement eight days after total blackout.
Many residents expressed joy as soon as the electricity was restored in some parts of the city an hour before dusk.
Borno State had been thrown into darkness since last early last week following what the electricity company described as a trip after completion of annual maintenance.
“We are happy the light is back after a week of blackout in the state. It has been painful staying without electricity for a week and our businesses have been badly affected. Many of us have been using generator to power our machine and it is costly buying diesel for a week,” Abdullahi Ahmed, an iron bender told The Sun.
Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), the electricity company responsible for power transmission weekend said electricity supply to the northeast States of Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, Adamawa and Taraba due to “tripping on fault of the Jos-Gombe 330kV Transmission Line, which had just undergone Annual Scheduled Maintenance.
TCN through a statement by its General Manager, Ndidi Mbah, said the six northeast States was affected by the blackout which occurred after the annual maintenance of the 330kV transmission line from Jos to Gombe.
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“After the maintenance work has been completed by the combined engineering maintenance crew from Gombe and Jos Transmission Substations, the transmission line was reclosed and energised at about 15:09 hours Saturday 22nd September, 2018. At 19:09 hours however, the line tripped due to fault on the line. TCN quickly initiated the patrol of the transmission line to detect and rectify the fault,” the company said.
Sources said electricity has also returned to other northeast States affected by the power shut down. In 2014, Maiduguri experienced total blackout for nearly seven more months after Boko Haram destroyed transmission facilities around the sourthern part OF the state