Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Nigeria has formally launched the Presidential Power Sector Debt Reduction Programme, a major financial intervention aimed at restoring liquidity and rebuilding investor confidence in the nation’s electricity supply industry.
The programme was publicly introduced on Wednesday during a virtual investor forum jointly convened by the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Federal Ministry of Power and the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Energy.
According to the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Ms. Olu Verheijen, the initiative is the outcome of months of coordinated work involving the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Power, the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, NBET, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, and power generation companies.
“We have worked closely with the Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal Ministry of Power, NBET, NERC and GenCos to validate claims and negotiate settlement agreements,” Verheijen said in a post on X, announcing the launch of the bond issuance process tied to the debt-reduction framework.
The virtual briefing attracted more than 600 participants, including banks, pension funds, insurance firms, issuing houses, asset managers, family offices, trustees and other institutional investors, signalling strong market interest in the government’s plan to address longstanding liquidity challenges in the sector.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Olawale Edun, was among the key speakers at the event, alongside the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, and Verheijen.
The initiative is expected to tackle significant financial shortfalls across the value chain, a problem that has undermined the operations of GenCos, constrained gas supply and weakened investors’ appetite for long-term commitments in the power sector.
Verheijen noted that the debt-settlement programme is central to President Bola Tinubu’s broader energy-sector reforms aimed at improving liquidity, stabilising generation capacity and strengthening market discipline within the electricity industry.
She added that the introduction of the bond issuance framework represents “a major intervention” and forms part of a deliberate strategy to enhance transparency and reassure both domestic and international investors of the government’s commitment to financial sustainability in the power sector.
The Presidential Power Sector Debt Reduction Programme comes as Nigeria intensifies efforts to resolve structural bottlenecks in the electricity industry, particularly issues around unsettled invoices, constrained cash flow, and market imbalances affecting GenCos and other operators.
The government is expected to provide further details in the coming weeks as negotiations with stakeholders progress toward full implementation of the debt-reduction mechanism.
