Kebbi residents, business owners groan over prolonged blackout

Residents and business owners in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, are counting their losses following a prolonged power outage that has left the state without electricity from the national grid for about a week.

The blackout followed the collapse of Tower T367 on the 330kV Kainji-Birnin Kebbi transmission line operated by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN.

The tower collapsed at about 10:44 p.m. on Monday, September 7, 2026, after the transmission line tripped, according to TCN.

The company said a trial reclosure was attempted at 11:07 p.m., but the line tripped again, prompting linesmen from its Birnin Kebbi Sub-Region to conduct a fault-finding patrol along the transmission corridor.

TCN said the patrol confirmed the collapse of Tower T367, with preliminary findings indicating that heavy winds and rainstorms caused the damage.

The outage has disrupted several businesses in Birnin Kebbi, including welding, corn milling, bread production, bread frying, cold-water sales and phone charging.

Two corn and bread millers, Malam Shehu Yusuf and Aliyu Muhammad, said they had lost more than N500,000 in income within a week due to the blackout.

A cold-water seller in the Bayan-Kara area of Birnin Kebbi, Ummu Abubakar, also said the outage had cost her about N10,000 daily.

“Oh my God, this issue of NEPA (electricity) outage has caused me a lot. There is no market or business due to a lack of power. I can no longer afford to eat three square meals a day,” she said.

Residents and business owners affected by the blackout have called on TCN to expedite repairs and restore electricity to the state.

TCN said it had declared force majeure on the 330kV Kainji-Birnin Kebbi transmission line following the incident.

The company said it had commenced arrangements to mobilise personnel, equipment and other resources to the affected location to rehabilitate the collapsed tower and restore the transmission line.

It added that the incident had affected the transmission of bulk electricity through the Kainji-Birnin Kebbi corridor, while electricity transmission to Sokoto was being maintained through an alternative route.

TCN assured that efforts were underway to restore normal bulk power transmission as quickly as possible.