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GenCos plan shutdown over N701 billion intervention fund

By Terhemba Daka and Kingsley Jeremiah, Abuja
11 December 2018   |   3:00 am
Nigeria's power generation companies are at the verge of shutting down as government fails to provide a N701 billion intervention fund earlier approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to ease liquidity crisis in the sector. Indeed, while some gas companies, including Total, already denied operators gas over inability to pay, Executive Secretary, Association of…

Executive Secretary, Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), Joy Ogaji

Nigeria’s power generation companies are at the verge of shutting down as government fails to provide a N701 billion intervention fund earlier approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to ease liquidity crisis in the sector.

Indeed, while some gas companies, including Total, already denied operators gas over inability to pay, Executive Secretary, Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), Joy Ogaji, said Shell Nigeria and others had equally threatened to stop gas supply to the plants by next week.

The power generation firms said unnecessary bureaucracy playing out at the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, headed by Babatunde Fashola, Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) and Centre Bank of Nigeria (CBN) could in the coming week throw the country into total darkness.

Meanwhile, Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, Sunday Oduntan, has said that the distribution companies are not to blame for the prevailing situation.

He said a holistic approach involving all the stakeholders was needed to address the challenges in the sector.

Also, National Secretary, Electricity Consumers Advocacy of Nigeria (NECAN), Uket Abonga, who bemoaned the situation, stated that the development remained an indication that the projections in the power sector might not be achieved.

In a related vein, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has called on the various DISCos to provide electricity meters for consumers as part of the measures to address the nation’s power challenges.

Managing Director of TCN, Usman Mohammed, who spoke with State House correspondents in Abuja yesterday, stressed that Nigerian consumers were ready to pay for the electricity, consumed provided they are sure of being billed appropriately.

He particularly described the hollow argument of inadequate power supply as being responsible for failure to pay bills as a ‘chicken and egg’ dilemma, which he said, could be resolved by allowing the consumers pay for only the amount of electricity used.

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