Elumelu advocates complete power sector deregulation, payment of electricity debt to GenCos

The Chairman of Transnational Corporation (Transcorp Plc), Mr. Tony Elumelu, has called on the Federal Government to urgently pay the N1.3 trillion debt owed to Nigeria’s power generation companies to prevent the sector’s collapse.

Speaking at Transcorp’s annual general meeting in Abuja yesterday, Elumelu said the GenCos could no longer sustain subsidizing the power sector.

He highlighted that Transcorp Power is owed about N250 billion for electricity supplied to the national grid.

Elumelu also urged the government to fully privatize the power sector by selling its 40 percent stake in the eleven electricity distribution companies and its 100 percent stake in the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

“We have liquidity challenges in the sector. As we speak, Transcorp Power is owed around N250 billion. We need this liquidity as a sector and as a company to help us stabilize and improve access to electricity. As it stands today, we can say that the power generation companies are subsidizing the country on electricity. We need this debt settled so that we can make progress”, he stated.

He added: “Finally, I want to seize this opportunity to call for the completion of the power sector privatization. Only a partial privatization of the power sector has been achieved since it started in 2013. As of today, the Transmission Company of Nigeria which is so critical is owned 100 percent by the Federal Government and DisCos are also owned 40 percent by the government.

“I believe that to enable the sector to run efficiently by the private sector, I recommend that the Federal Government should come out with a clear timeline for the full privatization of the power sector starting with the Transmission Company of Nigeria and then the DisCos”.