President Tinubu audience with Chairmen of Power Generation Companies in Nigeria held at the Presidential Villa Abuja yesterday

•From left: Managing Director, Sahara Group, Kola Adesina; Chairman, Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu; Chairman Association of Power Generation Companies, Col. Sani Bello (rtd); President Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila; and president Tinubu audience with Chairmen of Power Generation Companies in Nigeria held at the Presidential Villa Abuja yesterday

Appeals for patience from GENCOs
Okays bond programme, promises transparency in verification process
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has assured power generation companies (GENCOs) of his administration’s commitment to resolving the over ₦4 trillion in longstanding debts owed to them, pledging transparency and fairness in verifying the claims while appealing for patience.

The President gave this assurance during a high-level meeting with members of the Association of Power Generation Companies, led by retired Colonel Sani Bello, at the Presidential Villa yesterday.

According to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, the President acknowledged the gravity of the sector’s liquidity crisis and promised that the federal government would not shirk from its inherited obligations.

“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,” President Tinubu said.

The President appealed to the GENCOs and their financial backers to give the government time to complete verification and validation of the debts, stating, “we are here. So market it to your other colleagues. Give us time to do verification and validation of the numbers.”

Reaffirming his commitment to a market-led electricity sector, Tinubu emphasised that historical challenges, long left unresolved, are now receiving active attention.

“This is a longstanding issue that is now being dealt with,” he said, referencing the government’s broader reform drive that includes eliminating fuel subsidies and promoting Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) alternatives.

The President also called for restraint from the financial sector regarding asset foreclosures against the GENCOs.

“To our friends in the banking sector, I ask that we avoid foreclosures. Sharpen your pencils, but keep an eraser handy. Let’s persevere together,” he urged.

In her briefing, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Mrs. Olu Verheijen, disclosed that a ₦4 trillion bond programme had received anticipatory approval from the President to tackle the liquidity shortfall in the sector.

However, she cautioned that only verified and legitimate debts would be accommodated.

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“As of April 2025, the total exposure that we are carrying at the moment is ₦4 trillion. This is subject to downward revision pending final validation. Only amounts that the federal government validly owes are the things that will make it into the issuance by the DMO”, Verheijen said.

She attributed the massive debt pile-up to a combination of unfunded tariff shortfalls and market deficiencies that have built up since 2015.

Of the ₦4 trillion claimed by 27 GENCOs, the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET) has validated ₦1.8 trillion so far.

Highlighting the administration’s strides in power sector reform, Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, lauded the President for his hands-on approach and leadership.

“Your presence at this meeting is a clear testament to your unwavering commitment to the sustainability, stability, and long-term development of Nigeria’s power sector,” Adelabu said.

He noted that since President Tinubu took office, the administration has signed into law the Electricity Act, 2023—decentralising the power sector—and launched Nigeria’s first Integrated National Electricity Policy in 24 years.

Adelabu said reforms have boosted investor confidence, attracted over $2 billion in new private capital, and improved annual revenue collection by 70 percent—from ₦1 trillion in 2023 to ₦1.7 trillion in 2024—thereby reducing government subsidy obligations by over ₦700 billion.

On capacity expansion, he reported that installed generation capacity has grown from 13,000 MW to 14,000 MW, with a record 5,801 MW peak generation and a maximum daily energy delivery of 120,370 MWh recorded on March 4, 2025.

No grid collapse has occurred in 2025, he added.

He further disclosed progress in narrowing Nigeria’s metering gap through the ₦700 billion Presidential Metering Initiative and the World Bank-backed DISREP, which has so far delivered 300,000 of the 3.45 million smart meters procured.

Despite the reforms, Adelabu warned that the liquidity crisis remains a major threat, saying “Mr. President, given the grave implications of this debt overhang, including the risk of a nationwide shutdown of generation assets, I humbly seek your immediate support for defraying these obligations, even if partially, over a defined period.”

In their separate interventions, leading business figures Tony Elumelu and Kola Adesina echoed calls for urgent relief, citing the dire financial state of GENCOs and the need to unlock gas supply to sustain operations.

“Mr. President, we’ve come to you as a last hope. The generating companies are heavily indebted to banks, and foreclosure threats are real, not because we’re not doing our jobs, but because the system owes us trillions,” Elumelu said.

He commended President Tinubu for restoring stability in oil production and banking, saying, “before you took office in 2023, we lost 97% of our daily oil production. Today, we are retaining 98%. That’s transformation.”

On the energy crisis, Elumelu 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.”

Adesina, for his part, stressed that “liquidity is the oxygen of our business,” warning that generation output could stall without urgent intervention.

He proposed leveraging Nigeria LNG to unlock 800 million cubic feet of gas to boost supply to underperforming power plants, especially those in the Afam axis.

The meeting was attended by key cabinet members and officials, including the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila; Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edun; Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris; as well as regulatory authorities and major power sector stakeholders.