NBET Leaves Power Ministry, Reps Threaten Budget Shutout

The House of Representatives has warned that budgetary allocations will not be approved for the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company Plc in the 2021 budget if the agency does not return to the Ministry of Power.

NBET was hitherto an agency under the Ministry of Power but the company was recently moved to the Ministry of Finance.

The company was incorporated in 2010 and serves as a special purpose vehicle to buy electricity from the generation companies and sell to the distribution companies.

The status of NBET unravelled after Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, suspended the Director -General of the company, Marilyn Amobi, following several complaints levelled against her.

The suspension was reversed through a memo issued by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

It later turned out that NBET had been designated as an agency under the Ministry of Finance.

However, the House of Representatives Committee on Power on Monday insisted that the company remained under the supervision of the Ministry of Power, going by provisions of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, 2005.

Chairman of the committee, Magaji Aliyu, spoke during an oversight visit to the headquarters of the Ministry of Power in Abuja.

Officials of the ministry briefed the committee on the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project during the event.

Stressing that the lawmakers would not tolerate any attempt to contravene the law, he said the committee had observed what he described as “the power play by agents of the executive arm concerning the happenings at NBET.”

Aliyu vowed that NBET would not receive allocation in the 2021 budget if the company was not moved back to the power ministry.