The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Atiku Abubakar, has called on the federal government to disclose the beneficiaries of the N501 billion bond issued to clear debts owed to electricity generation companies (GenCos).
His demand follows claims by the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC) that the bond has not been fully disbursed despite repeated assurances from the government.
In January, the federal government announced the successful issuance of a N501 billion inaugural bond under the presidential power sector debt reduction programme (PPSDRP).
In February, Joy Ogaji, chief executive officer of the APGC, said the federal government owes the GenCos about N6.5 trillion.
However, in April, President Bola Tinubu approved a payment plan aimed at settling the outstanding debt in the power sector under the presidential power sector financial reform programme.
‘THIS IS A CRISIS OF CREDIBILITY’
In a statement released on Wednesday by Phrank Shaibu, his senior special assistant on public communication, Atiku said Ogaji’s remarks exposed what he described as contradictions in the government’s handling of power sector debt.
The former vice-president said Ogaji’s challenge to the government to reveal details of the disbursement raises serious questions about transparency and fiscal responsibility.
“Dr. Ogaji’s vivid description of the government’s token payment as ‘like rubbing oil on a crying child’s mouth to imply that he had eaten’ perfectly captures the Tinubu administration’s approach to governance: grand announcements, impressive figures, glossy headlines, and very little substance,” the statement reads.
Atiku said repeated government interventions aimed at resolving power sector debt have failed to produce meaningful results.
“This is no longer a policy failure. It is a crisis of credibility,” he said.
“The question is no longer whether the government is borrowing. The question is why Nigerians are repeatedly being asked to applaud fresh borrowing to solve a problem that government insists it solved only yesterday.”
He challenged the federal government to publish the names of all generation companies that received payments from the N501 billion bond, the amount paid to each company, payment dates, and outstanding balances.
“Public money cannot disappear into official press statements. Every naira borrowed in the name of Nigerians must be traceable to its destination,” he said.
Atiku also accused the Tinubu administration of repeatedly turning to borrowing instead of tackling the root causes of the power sector crisis.
“Every challenge is met with another ceremony. Every crisis is greeted with another headline. Every unresolved debt is answered with another borrowing plan,” he said.
“Yet electricity generation remains constrained, investors remain uncertain, businesses continue to spend fortunes powering themselves, and ordinary Nigerians still pay exorbitantly for darkness.”
The former vice-president urged the national assembly, the auditor-general of the federation and other oversight bodies to carry out a full public audit of all power sector intervention funds raised under the Tinubu administration.
“Nigerians deserve to know precisely how much has been borrowed, how much has been disbursed, who received the money, and why the debts continue to rise despite repeated claims of settlement,” he said.
Atiku added that “darkness has become one of the most expensive commodities in Nigeria” and called on the government to account for previous borrowings before seeking additional debt.