By Shittu Oluwadamilola
The Senate has queried the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) over mounting liabilities in the electricity sector, which have risen to about N3 trillion.
Appearing before the Senate Committee on Finance, NBET’s Acting Managing Director, Johnson Akinnawo, attributed the crisis to a persistent gap between electricity tariffs and the actual cost of generation, transmission and distribution.
Although N858 billion was appropriated for NBET in the 2025 budget, Akinnawo said only N60 million was released, hampering operations. The budget was later reduced to N601 billion.
Committee Chairman, Senator Mohammed Musa, questioned the agency’s performance and the sustainability of the market, noting that strong receipts on paper had not translated into sector stability.
Responding to concerns by Senator Abdul Ningi over heavy intervention spending, Akinnawo explained that distribution companies remit collections used to pay generation companies on a pro-rata basis, but payments remain constrained by poor collections and funding gaps.
He added that the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Finance, covers shortfalls linked to partial risk guarantees, while foreign exchange exposure remains a challenge as generation tariffs are dollar-indexed.
Akinnawo disclosed that debt reconciliation is ongoing under a presidential power sector debt reduction committee chaired by the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun.
The committee directed NBET to provide a detailed breakdown of its revenues and expenditures for further scrutiny.
