Nigeria’s transport company, TCN, has warned that there is no turning back from the planned demolition of more than 1,000 illegal structures due to severe power tensions in Kano for works to rebuild power lines from Kaduna to Kano.
TCN Assistant General Manager Muhammed Kamaru Bello told reporters on Friday that the state has only one line that supplies power to Kano from Kaduna and has been installed in the last 50 years.
“The DanAgundi substation was built 50 years ago with a capacity of 80 MW, but today it is operating at more than 280 MW, which is why they are completely rewiring the place to meet the required capacity,” he said.
He explained that most of their rights-of-way had been infringed, even after paying N1.5 billion in damages, while Kano paid N500 million on the Danagonde station for Rimin-Zakara substation.
He said that all other contractual obligations have been fully completed and in the next few days the reconstruction work will begin on the second power lines to Kano from Kaduna, insisting there will be no turning back from this.
Bello denied that the house slated for demolition was more than 20,000, insisting that the unfinished homes and buildings slated from DanAgundi to Kumbosto were never more than 1,000.
He added, “Today in all of Nigeria, Kano is the only state that has problems with full power supply and this is because all the existing power lines were built in the last 50 to 60 years and are very old and need urgent removal and reconstruction.
“Let me remind those who insist that we must pay compensation before vacating their places, that TCN does not pay compensation twice, we paid before and in DanAgundi to Rimin Zakara substations, we paid N1.5 billion while Kano paid N500 million, so what Who are they talking about?”
He said the works will benefit Kano, Jigawa, Katsina and some parts of Bauchi.
TCN is allocating 1,000 homes for demolition in Kano
