FG approves N701bn assurance system payment for electricity companies

The Federal  Government  has approved assurance system payment of N701 billion to improve liquidity in  the Nigerian electricity value chain, Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria’s  Acting President , has said.

The move is expected to break the gridlock in liquidity faced by electricity companies which are at the core of generating and distribution power in Nigeria.

Industry data shows that the 11 electricity distribution companies settled only a third of the N111 billion worth of electricity invoices from the generation companies in the first quarter of 2017 leaving an estimated N80 billion unsettled.

“We hope that we free up that value chain which has created several problems of its own and we hope that this injection will help” the vice President said at a roundtable on Nigerian Renewable Energy in Abuja on Tuesday.

“We are also looking at several other reforms in the sector hoping that the market can become self-sustaining, independent and run on its own and free up all of the private sector energy that is waiting to come into the market.’’

Osinbajo noted that, as a multi-stakeholder platform, the Nigerian Renewable Energy Roundtable should champion the new vision for renewable energy and ensure that they could translate theory to practice for the greater good of the people.

Also speaking, the Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, said the ministry had been resolute in pursuing alternative energy sources.

According to him, focus on renewable energy will benefit the rural areas and help to create jobs as stated in the government’s Economic Recovery Growth Plan.

He said that diversification could only be successful in an environment of renewable energy system.

Majority of Nigerians lack access to electricity and where it is available supply is irregular.

The interest in renewal energy is expected to accelerate electricity generation and supply to the populace.