..says FG’s unpaid invoice still over N6trn
The Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC) has read riot act to the recent allegations made by Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), concerning the state of the nation’s power sector.
Joy Ogaji, chief executive officer, APGC, said that the allegations, which include claims of institutionalised extortion and a phantom subsidy, is a misrepresentation of the facts and a disservice to the ongoing efforts to stabilise Nigeria’s electricity supply industry.
She said the NLC president’s labelling of the legitimate operations of power firms as ‘robbery’ and a grand deception is a simplistic and inflammatory narrative that ignores the complex realities of the industry.
“While we acknowledge the frustrations of Nigerians regarding the unstable power supply, we must firmly reject the NLC’s characterisation of the sector’s challenges,” she said in a statement issued to journalists on Wednesday.
Ogaji also condemn the body’s insinuation that the proposed government support
for the sector is a clandestine plan to ‘settle the boys’ ahead of elections, stating that such claim is baseless, offensive to the professionals working tirelessly in the sector and undermines the critical liquidity interventions needed to keep the lights on.
“It may be necessary for the NLC and its co-travellers to identify the robbers and those engaged in the deception.
But it certainly cannot be the GenCos who are working around the clock to ensure that electricity is generated in spite of the huge challenges associated with the business.
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“If we may further ask: Who are the boys the NLC is referring to? Is power generation meant for boys? Which election is the NLC talking about? What is the nexus between power generation and election?
“We are worried that in an attempt to remain relevant, the NLC has forced itself into an area where it lacks the requisite competence. The truth is that the power sector, over a decade after privatisation, remains hamstrung by severe liquidity challenges, which is visibly clear to everyone but calls for clarification too on the issues.”
Ogaji further explained that GenCos, who are entitled to about 60 percent of the market receivables following their invoiced energy bills, face the greatest risk in the electricity value chain with an outstanding unpaid invoice of now over N6trillion.
“GenCos deserve pity and not castigation, ridicule and victimisation. Trying to smear their image with such baseless and unfounded allegations is not only unfair but misleading to the Nigerian populace: giving the impression that the sector is not regulated, and that electricity market participants can do as they pleased on checked,” she added.
Ajearo, in a recent engagement had lamented that over 10 years after the unbundling and sale of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, successor companies, electricity generation remains stagnant at between 4,000 and 5,000 megawatts — virtually the same level recorded before privatisation, despite Nigeria’s growing population and industrial demands.
He said that the power sector privatisation was a grand deception, adding that the exercise was a fraudulent transfer of public wealth into the hands of a few speculators who lack both the technical expertise and the financial backbone to manage the nation’s electricity assets.
“The so-called investors did not buy these companies with their own money. No foreign exchange was brought in, though the companies were touted to have come from outside our shores. They borrowed heavily from Nigerian banks, draining domestic credit and contributing to the depreciation of our naira. They acquired the DisCos and GenCos on a shoestring budget and now expect Nigerian workers to pay for their loans through outrageous electricity tariffs.”
Ajearo said there was no justification for the government’s plan to pay part of the debt owed to GenCos. He describe the plan as a clandestine move to ‘settle the boys’ as the 2027 elections approach.
“The electricity subsidy claim remains a phantom, as does the plan to use N3trillion to bail out operators. This is another ruse and goes nowhere. We question the rationale behind the Federal Government’s alleged plan to pay about three trillion naira to the GenCos. We describe it as a clandestine move to ‘settle the boys’ as the 2027 elections approach.
“We insist that there is no justification for such a massive bailout to private firms that have failed to deliver. If this government is serious about the welfare of Nigerians, it must stop using our commonwealth to enrich a cartel of failed investors. Every kobo of the treasury belongs to the workers and people of Nigeria,” the NLC president stated.
