The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, on Tuesday, disclosed that Nigerians will start experiencing improved electricity supply in two weeks.
He blamed the declining supply that has lingered in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) in the last two weeks on the shortage in gas supply to the thermal power plants.
Adelabu revealed that owing to the crisis in the Middle East, there has been an increase in the demand for Nigerian gas.
He said since exporting the gas is more attractive than supplying the domestic power market, which is indebted to the gas vendors, they would rather ignore sending the product to power plants.
The gas suppliers, according to him, have constrained their vending to the power sector because of the over N6 trillion debt.
Of the N6 trillion owed to the sector, 60 per cent is to the gas suppliers, he said.
Adelabu disclosed this in a press briefing at Abuja.
Asked to state specifically when Nigerians should expect improved power supply, the minister said, “Two weeks from now, we should start seeing improvement in supply.”
Clarifying exactly how much is owed to GenCos, he recalled that as at 2024, he said the transaction was audited to arrive at N2.8 trillion, but after the reconciliation, it was N4 trillion.
According to him, it has been a back-and-forth discussion as the GenCos insisted they are owed N6 trillion.
His words: “I can tell you that the amount we owe GENCOs, which is estimated and is being reconciled, when we said N4 trillion as at the end of 2024, it was audited and it was agreed at 2.8 trillion or so, because of the interest elements and the effects throughout the element of it.
“And the number of the GENCOs has been agreed upon, while some are still discussing back and forth. But now that we are talking about N6 trillion for the GENCOs, by the time they are done with the reconciliation, it will probably be about N4 trillion total.
“So what I can tell you is that a proportion of this, which is no less than 60%, is being owed to the gas suppliers.”
The minister revealed that the government has made some financial interventions to settle the debts.
He said the interventions include the N4 trillion restructuring to defray the outstanding unpaid subsidies of the GenCos.
