President Bola Tinubu has pledged to address long-standing debts owed to electricity generation companies (GENCOs), assuring industry leaders of his administration’s resolve to improve liquidity in the power sector.
At a meeting held Friday with the Association of Power Generation Companies, led by retired Colonel Sani Bello, at the State House in Abuja, Tinubu appealed for patience as the government continues its audit of claims dating back to 2015.
“I accept the assets and liabilities of my predecessors, and there is no question about that. But that acceptance must be on credible grounds,” Tinubu told the delegation. “I need to wear the audit cap of verifiability, authenticity, and the fact that this inheritance is not a mere deodorant but a support structure for critical economic and industrial promotion.”
The president urged GENCOs and banks to give the federal government time to complete its validation process.
“We are here. So market it to your other colleagues. Give us time to do verification and validation of the numbers,” he said.
Special Adviser on Energy, Olu Verheijen, disclosed that a ₦4 trillion bond programme has received anticipatory approval from President Tinubu to ease financial pressure in the sector.
She explained that the financial shortfall resulted from a decade of unfunded tariff gaps and accrued market deficits, leading to a government liability of ₦4 trillion as of April 2025.
“We have since sat with 27 GENCOs—not all of them are here today—and reviewed their PPAs and gas sales agreements to understand the legitimacy of their claims. The GENCOs claimed about ₦4 trillion from 2015 to the end of 2023,” she said.
According to her, ₦1.8 trillion of the debt has so far been verified by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET), while a further ₦200 billion in unpaid subsidies has built up the total.
She stressed that the final figure is still being assessed and may be revised downward. “Only the amounts that the federal government validly owes are the things that will make it into the issuance by DMO,” she said.
Tinubu reiterated his preference for a competitive, private sector-led electricity market and assured the GENCOs that the government would avoid severe measures like asset seizures.
“To our friends in the banking sector, I ask that we avoid foreclosures. Sharpen your pencils, but keep an eraser handy. Let’s persevere together,” he said, describing electricity as “the most important discovery of humanity in the last 1,000 years.”
Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, thanked Tinubu for his focus on energy reforms. He cited the Electricity Act of 2023 and Nigeria’s first national electricity policy in over two decades as major steps taken under the administration.
He also reported the sector’s improved performance, including a 70 percent revenue increase from ₦1 trillion in 2023 to ₦1.7 trillion in 2024, and a drop in government subsidies by ₦700 billion.
Adelabu added that Nigeria’s generation capacity has increased from 13,000MW to 14,000MW, with a record energy delivery of 120,370MWh recorded on March 4, 2025. He said the country has also experienced zero grid collapses in 2025.
Further, the minister highlighted progress in closing Nigeria’s metering gap through the ₦700 billion Presidential Metering Initiative and the World Bank-funded DISREP project, which has so far delivered 300,000 smart meters out of 3.45 million procured.
Despite these gains, Adelabu warned that the sector faces a liquidity crisis that could stall ongoing progress.
“Given the grave implications of this debt overhang, including the risk of a nationwide shutdown of generation assets, I humbly seek your immediate support for defraying these obligations, even if partially, over a defined period,” he said.
Business leaders Tony Elumelu and Kola Adesina also urged prompt intervention to prevent sector-wide disruptions.
“Mr. President, we’ve come to you as a last hope,” Elumelu said. “The generating companies are heavily indebted to banks, and foreclosure threats are real, not because we’re not doing our jobs, but because the system owes us trillions.”
He praised Tinubu’s leadership, especially in stabilising oil production, noting: “Before you took office in 2023, we lost 97% of our daily oil production. Today, we are retaining 98%.”
Adesina echoed the need for urgent cash flow support and addressed the issue of gas supply, pointing out that many power plants in the Afam axis are operating below capacity.
“We propose unlocking 800 million cubic feet of gas through NLNG to boost supply to these power plants,” he said.
The meeting was attended by the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila; Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris; and other senior officials and power sector stakeholders.
