OpeOluwani Akintayo
11 September 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos — The Minister of Power, Works, and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said the federal government had verified only N27 billion out of the excess claim of N90b made by the distribution companies, discos’ as debt owed by the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies.
He made the disclosure at the 19th monthly Power Sector Operators meeting held at Akangba, Surulere today.
According to the minister while responding to an allegation by the MD/CEO of Egbin, Dallas Peavey Jnr, that government owes the company N125 billion, Fashola said Peavey had left out the N90 billion discovered as an excess claim, adding that only about N27b had been verified.
However, the Minister refused to either debunk or accept that the government owes Egbin Plc N125b as claimed by Mr. Peavey.
“Mr. Peavey told the visiting Senators (from the US in August) that Government was owing them N125 Billion. I am compelled to use this platform to respond to these allegations. Let me start by saying that Mr. Peavey did not tell his visitors how that N125 Billion was made up. He did not also tell them that the MDA debts owed to Discos had been verified and instead of claims in excess of N90 Billion submitted as owed by the Federal Government, only about N27 Billion has been established by verification,” he said.
In August, the Egin MD/CEO, alleged that the government owes the company 125 billion Naira ($352 million).
Egbin Power Plc is the largest power generating station in Nigeria with an installed capacity of 1,320 MW consisting of 6 Units of 220MW each.
Since the beginning of President Buhari’s administration, the discos have laid claim to the N58b debt owed them by MDAs.
However, in April, Fashola said the government would pay off only verified debts of the discos.