August 20, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government has paid N205bn from the N1.3 trillion debt owed to Generation Companies (Gencos) to raise the level of liquidity in the power sector.
Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, disclosed this on Monday, to members of the House of Representatives Committee on Power on a tour of oversight visit to the Ministry.
He said, “In terms of markets and liquidity, the 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 owe 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.”
Adelabu also emphasised urgent action to renew 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.
“A lot of the towers are falling. The substations are dilapidated with very old transformers, some of which 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,” he said.
Describing the metering gap as wide, Adelabu said out of over 12 million electricity customers nationwide, just a little over five million were metered, leaving a gap of over seven million meters.
He said the mandate of the ministry was to achieve the installation of two million meters on a yearly basis for the next five years, and expressed the hope that the sector that was hitherto deemed to be jinxed in the last 15 years was fast coming back.
On the Siemens project, Adelabu stated that the pilot phase was being gradually rounded off, stressing that several pieces of equipment from the project are already being installed nationwide.
He said, “We went to Germany together and we had a meeting with the German Chancellor that we needed to accelerate the 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.”
