MADUABUCHI NMERIBEH/Kano

Mysterious fire which gutted the Kumbotso 330/132/33KV transmission facility of Kano Electricity Distribution Company, KEDCO, in Kano, northwest Nigeria has disrupted power supply to Kano, Katsina and Jigawa states.

The fire incident which cause is yet to be known blew up one of the key transmission facility of KEDCO and as a result has taken the ancient commercial city back to its days of darkness.
KEDCO authorities, however, appealed to its customers to bear with the situation as engineers have already been deployed to the site for immediate repairs.

Explaining the incident in a press statement signed by KEDCO’s Head of Corporate Communications, Mr. Mukhtar Baffa Usman, the Company regretted the incident and promised to rectify it as soon as possible.

The statement reads: “There was a fire outbreak at the kumbotso 330/132/33kv transmission facility in Kano, a development which caused power supply to be disrupted in its aftermath.

“The fire was detected after the staff of the station heard an unusual sound coming out of one of the transformers. Thereafter smoke started to bellow out to the skies and a person rushed to see that one of the four 1x 150 MVA transformers serving the Kano complex was actually on fire.

“The Kano state fire services as well as all relevant security agencies were contacted immediately and a rescue operation soon started. The fire was put out eventually. The affected transformer was the T1A equipment commissioned in 2008 by the late honorable minister of state Energy 7 Power Hajiya Fatima Balaraba Ibrahim.

“The fire incident is the first of its kind and has affected power supply to the entire Kano distribution network supplying Kano; Jigawa and Katsina states.

“Meanwhile a team of engineers has been dispatched by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to ascertain the damage done by the fire and to isolate the affected transformer pending a possible replacement.

‘In a related development the Management of Kano Electricity Distribution Company has expressed concern about this unfortunate incident. The company regretted the inconveniences brought about by the disruption of power supply to the entire Kano distribution zone made up of Kano; Jigawa and Katsina states.”