The Senate Committee on Finance has questioned the management of the power sector’s mounting debt, with the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) disclosing that liabilities across the electricity value chain have risen to about N3 trillion. NBET’s Acting Managing Director, Johnson Akinnawo, told lawmakers that persistent funding gaps and tariff shortfalls continue to undermine the market’s stability.
Akinnawo said although N858 billion was appropriated for NBET in the 2025 budget—later reduced to N601 billion—only N60 million was released late in the year, affecting performance. “There remains a gap between the cost of generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and what is being recovered,” he said, explaining that distribution companies remit collections used to pay generation companies on a pro-rata basis. He added that foreign exchange exposure remains a challenge because generation tariffs are dollar-indexed.
Committee Chairman, Senator Mohammed Musa, questioned the sector’s sustainability, noting that market receipts appeared strong on paper but did not reflect operational realities. Senator Abdul Ningi also raised concerns that nearly 60 per cent of NBET’s appropriations were allocated to intervention spending. Lawmakers criticised the non-release of funds meant to bridge the gap between collections by distribution companies and payments due to generators.
Akinnawo said reconciliation of the N3 trillion debt is ongoing under a presidential power sector debt reduction committee chaired by Finance Minister Wale Edun. The committee directed NBET to provide a clearer breakdown of its revenues and expenditures for further scrutiny.
