The federal government said on Monday that it has paid N205 billion from the N1.3 trillion in debt owed to Generation Companies.
The government also ascribed the recent improvement in electricity supply that has been observed in some parts of the country to President Bola Tinubu’s administration, according to ThisDay.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu during an oversight visit by the House of Representatives Committee on Power in Abuja.
Adelabu explained that the lawmakers must continue to pile pressure on the executive to ensure that debts owed players in the sector were paid.
Adelabu said, “In terms of markets and liquidity, government is also owing these companies, but they have started paying them little by little. Just about three weeks ago, out of the about N1.3 trillion we are owing the Generation Companies (Gencos), we were able to pay them N205 billion. And they are also happy.
“But I will plead with the members of the House committee to help us mount pressure on the executive to continue to pay these people.”
The minister clarified that Nigerians should not be forced to endure another national blackout, which would further lower their standard of living, in light of the country’s current economic hardship, which include a shortage of fuel.
He stated that Nigeria needed to renew the infrastructure in the power sector, and rejig the current tariff policy, maintaining that all the segments of the power sector need to be worked on.
According to him, “A lot of the towers are falling. The substations are dilapidated with very old transformers, some of them were installed in the 60s. We have not been able to replace them. The same thing with distribution infrastructure. The substations at the distribution level are also not working properly.”
Adelabu described the metering gap as significant, stating that only little over five million of the country’s approximately 12 million electricity users were metered, leaving a gap of more than seven million meters.
He stated that the ministry’s goal for the next five years was to install two million meters annually, and he expressed optimism that the industry, which had been thought to be jinxed for the previous fifteen years, was rapidly recovering.
Adelabu said that the Siemens project’s pilot phase was being progressively completed, emphasizing that a number of the project’s equipment were already installed around the country.
He said, “We went to Germany together and we had a meeting with the German Chancellor that we needed to accelerate implementation of the presidential power initiative, which you all know as Siemens project.
“And the following month, we had a meeting in Dubai and we signed an acceleration agreement to ensure that we continued with this project. And I can tell you, within one year, we have almost concluded the pilot phase of this project.
“The pilot phase included importation, commissioning, and installation of 10 power transformers across Nigeria, 10 power mobile substations across Nigeria. So the improvement you see today is not accidental. It’s not due to rainfall.
“Hydroelectric power in Nigeria today is just a bit over 20 per cent of our total power generated. The remaining almost 80 per cent is from gas. So it’s not rain, but by the intentional activities of the federal government through the ministry of power. That’s why we are seeing all those improvements.”
In his remarks, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Power, Hon. Victor Nwokolo implored the minister to make certain that Nigeria didn’t drop below the 5,000MW it had just attained.
Nwokolo said without electricity supply, many companies will shut down, with the attendant loss of jobs, thereby making insecurity even worse.
He stated, “If you look at the electricity act, it said that increment in tariff must be phased over a period of time. Above all, it must be gazetted in different languages. Meaning that there must be adverts, there must be consultations, there must be town hall meetings here and there.”
