TCN Strengthens Community Partnership for Infrastructure Protection

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has moved to deepen ties with communities that host its power infrastructure, renewing calls for local stewardship and joint protection of transmission facilities during a courtesy visit by the United Progressive Youth of Afaka (UPYA) to TCN’s Kaduna Regional Office on Tuesday, July 21.

The visit – part of TCN’s ongoing stakeholder engagement and sensitisation campaign – brought UPYA leaders and regional management together to discuss ways to strengthen the partnership between the company and residents living near transmission lines and substations. general manager, Public Affairs Ndidi Mbah, stated.

Mbah said that at the centre of talks were measures to promote peaceful coexistence, increase community participation in protecting installations, and broaden the social benefits that flow from having critical infrastructure in the area.

General manager (Transmission), Kaduna Region, Nasir Mansur Fada, said TCN remained committed to open communication and mutual respect with host communities. He described the company’s community engagement strategy as a deliberate tool for building confidence, addressing grievances through dialogue and mobilising residents to treat transmission assets as shared national property.

“Our objective is simple: reduce incidents of vandalism and threats to the grid by turning communities into partners in protection,” Fada said.

“When local residents understand the national value of these installations and feel they benefit from them, they are more likely to safeguard them — and that translates to a more reliable electricity supply for all Nigerians.”

On his part, the secretary‑general of UPYA, Abdulhafiz Yahya, praised TCN’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes and regular interactions with the community.

He pledged the youth group’s continued support for the protection of transmission installations, saying the collaboration delivers mutual benefits — protecting livelihoods and improving the resilience of the nation’s electricity network.

“The company’s outreach has been visible on the ground,” Yahya said. “We will continue to work with TCN to ensure that vandalism and other threats are minimised, and that the community shares in the value of these critical assets.”

TCN said the Kaduna meeting is one of several engagements designed to sustain cordial relations with communities that host transmission infrastructure across the country. The sessions combine sensitisation on the technical and economic importance of transmission assets with targeted CSR interventions intended to address local needs and demonstrate tangible benefits of cooperation.

Officials at the meeting reiterated that community partnerships are key to securing the transmission network, preventing economic losses from outages, and supporting a more dependable power sector. TCN’s regional teams have in recent years increased community outreach, partly in response to a rise in theft and vandalism that has repeatedly disrupted supply and driven up repair costs.