Electricity: FG Threatens Discos, Says Subsidy Can’t Continue

The Federal Government said on Wednesday that it would not continue to subsidise the power sector.

It called on power distribution companies to improve on their financial and technical capacities to deliver or the government would intervene more directly to find solution to darkness in the country.

The Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, said after the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday that a plan targeting to resolve the challenges faced by the sector had been submitted to the government.

He stated that government was also in talks with a German firm, Siemens, to be part of the solutions it was seeking to align generation, transmission and distribution.

Giving an insight into some of the challenges, the minister said Nigeria had the capacity to generate over 13,000megawatts and could transmit 7,000MW.

However, he stated that much of the problems lay with the distribution companies, as they could only take 3,000 to 4,000MW.

Worse still, Mamman said the Discos would take the 3,000MW but pay for only 1,000MW, an indication of lack of financial capacity.

He said, “Nigeria can generate up to 13,000MW of electricity but we cannot transmit all.

“So, today we presented to the council the solution to the problem of our generation. It is mainly distribution.”

He added, “Government cannot continue to be subsiding because what they (Discos) do is that they collect 3,000MW and pay for only 1,000MW.

“Government is the one completing the payment. So, we cannot continue like that.”

In the last three years alone, the government said it had spent over N1.7tn on the sector.

Meanwhile, the FEC meeting, which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, approved additional N6.9bn for the completion of the Tada Shonga Irrigation Project.

It is located in Shonga, Kwara State.

The additional approval brought the total project cost to N10.18bn, according to the Minister of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu.