President Bola Tinubu has appealed to power generation companies (GENCOs) to give the Federal Government more time to completely verify and validate the longstanding debts owed to them.
The President made the appeal in a meeting with members of the Association of Power Generation Companies, led by retired Colonel Sani Bello at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He assured them of his administration’s commitment to resolving the liquidity challenges in the power sector.
President Tinubu acknowledged the historic liabilities inherited from previous administrations and pledged transparency and fairness in addressing them.
“I accept the assets and liabilities of my predecessors, and there is no question about that. But that acceptance must be on credible grounds.
“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”, he stressed.
The President called on GENCOs and financial institutions to be patient with the government as its agencies are actively engaging audit and legal firms to scrutinize the claims.
Beg your colleagues for us
The President further pleaded, “Market it to your other colleagues. Give us time to do verification and validation of the numbers.”
“This is a longstanding issue that is now being dealt with. I know how much we have been able to save on fuel subsidies.
The President called on financial institutions to work towards avoiding foreclosures. “Sharpen your pencils, but keep an eraser handy. Let’s persevere together,” he pleaded
Describing electricity as “the most important discovery of humanity in the last 1,000 years,” the President re-affirmed that access to electricity was fundamental to economic growth and human dignity.
The Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Mrs. Olu Verheijen, attributed the liquidity crisis to unfunded tariff shortfalls and market shortfalls that had built up over a decade.
She disclosed that as of April 2025, the Federal Government was carrying a verified exposure of ₦4 trillion in debts to GENCOs, an accumulation dating back to 2015.
“We have since sat with 27 GENCOs 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.”
N1.8 trillion so far verified
Verheijen said so far, the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company NBET, has validated ₦1.8 trillion of the claims.
“Only the amounts that the Federal Government validly owes are the things that will make it into the issuance by DMO”, she explained.
The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, stated that the attention being accorded the power sector by Tinubu’s administration’s reforms have restored investor confidence and improved performance across the electricity value chain.
“Under your leadership, we have recorded critical milestones in less than two years”, Adelabu told the president.
He recalled the signing of the Electricity Act, 2023 into law, which decentralizes and liberalizes the electricity market.
Adelabu said the administration had also launched Nigeria’s first Integrated National Electricity Policy in 24 years to drive coherence in sector planning and delivery.
$2 billion attracted for expansion
The Minister disclosed that over $2 billion in new private capital had been attracted to expand electricity access nationwide.
According to him, installed generation capacity had grown from 13,000 MW to 14,000 MW, with an all-time peak generation of 5,801 MW and a record maximum daily energy delivery of 120,370 MWh, achieved on March 4, 2025.
He happily recalled that the has not witnessed any national grid collapse in 2025, attributing it to interventions under the Presidential Power Initiative, which has added over 700MW of transmission capacity.
The Minister reported significant progress in narrowing Nigeria’s metering gap through the ₦700 billion Presidential Metering Initiative, funded via FAAC, and the World Bank-supported Distribution Sector Recovery Programme (DISREP), which has already delivered 300,000 smart meters out of 3.45 million procured.
He urged the President to continue supporting structural reforms to ensure a resilient and financially viable power market.
Foreclosure threats are real
Mr Tony Elumelu appealed for urgent intervention to preserve operations and encourage further investment in the sector.
“Mr. President, we’ve come to you as a last hope. The generating companies are heavily indebted to banks.”
“Foreclosure threats are real, not because we’re not doing our jobs, but because the system owes us trillions,” Elumelu regretted.
“Before you took office in 2023, we lost 97% of our daily oil production. Today, we are retaining 98%.
Greater stability and predictability
“That’s transformation. Investors are seeing greater stability and predictability,” he said.
“We don’t need power to complete your transformation, we need power to enable it.
“Power is critical to unlocking Nigeria’s full potential. We urge you to help solve this debt problem.,” Elumelu pleaded.
Mr Kola Adesina reiterated the need for immediate liquidity support while raising concerns over gas supply shortfalls.
“Liquidity is the oxygen of our business. Without urgent intervention, generation capacity will stall.
“Also, Nigeria’s industrial and economic ambitions will be jeopardized.
