We’ve paid N205bn out of N1.3trn owed to GenCos - Minister

The federal government has said it has paid N205 billion from the N1.3 trillion debt owed to generation companies (GenCos) in order to boost liquidity in the power sector.

Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, revealed this during an oversight visit by the house of representatives committee on power.

On February 15, while arguing for the discontinuation of electricity subsidy, Adelabu said the country’s to power generation and gas companies was N3 trillion.

Adelabu announced on May 16, that President Bola Tinubu had approved the gradual payment of the debt owed to GenCos.

During the visit, Adelabu disclosed that the federal government is gradually repaying the liability.

“In terms of markets and liquidity, government is also owing these companies, but they have started paying them little by little,” he said.

“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.

“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.”

Adelabu said due to the current economic hardship, Nigerians should not be subjected to another national blackout.

He said Nigeria must renew its power sector infrastructure and revamp the existing tariff policy, stressing that all segments of the power sector need comprehensive improvements.

“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,” he said.

“The same thing with distribution infrastructure. The substations at the distribution level are also not working properly,” he said.

He described the metering gap as significant, noting that out of over 12 million electricity customers nationwide, only about five million have been metered — leaving a gap of over seven million meters.

He said the ministry’s mandate is to install two million meters annually for the next five years.L and that the power sector, which had been considered stagnant for the past 15 years, is now coming back strong.