CBN Disburses N55.46 Billion To 24 Power Firms

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has said that 55.46 billion Naira was disbursed to 24 power firms as electricity market stabilization facility. 

 Mr Emefiele made the statement on Sunday at the 4th tranche disbursement of the facility in Lagos.

The CBN Governor said that three distribution companies got 8.67 billion Naira, 14 generating companies and Nigerian Independent Power Project (NIPP) had 35.83 billion Naira , Service Provider; 459.68million Naira and six gas companies got 10.49 billion Naira.

He said that the disbursement was a major milestone in the effort of the bank, in collaboration with the Federal Government to further address the challenges of the sector.

According to him, the disbursement would also feature the signing of Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Traders (NBET).

He noted that the signing would signal activation of industry contracts for power generation under a contract based market.

The CBN boss said that there were new entrants into the scheme.

Mr Emefiele maintained that the new entries were the two distribution companies in Benin and Jos.

He added that others included: Eight generating companies which include two independent power projects by Agip/Okpai and Shell and six NIPP plants at Alaoji, Geregu, Ihovbor, Olorunsogo2, Omotosho2 and Sapele2.

''By the end of today (Sunday),  total disbursements to the Discos will be 49.73 billion Naira representing 91.7 per cent, Gencos with 54.29 billion Naira, representing 62.5per cent.

''Gas companies got 15.73 billion Naira reprsenting 36.9 per cent and service providers 0.46 billion Naira representing 1.7 per cent. With today’s event, the total disbursements under the initiative will be 120.2 billion Naira, representing 57 per cent of the total amount earmarked,'' Emefiele said.

The Minister of Power, Housing and Works, Babatunde Fashola, said that the government was committed to ensuring that power supply becomes stable.

Mr Fashola said that the government was committed to addressing all the challenges that had been militating against steady power and revenue collection.

 He also said that another challenge was the issue of over dependence of the participants in the value- chain.

 He, however,  urged every member in the value chain to contribute to the success of the sector.

The Minister said those vandalising the pipelines should stop, noting that the government had embarked on a cleaning programme of the affected areas.

He urged consumers to also ensure that they pay for their bills to allow power firms to generate more revenues to ensure better service delivery.

He said that government planned to embark on the construction of more hydro power plants.

Mr Fashola maintained that government would soon come up with a framework that would boost the production of solar energy, reduce cost and increase its usage.