10 June 2016, Abuja — About N99 billion generation revenue from seven power plants under the National Integrated Power Projects, NIPPs, has been trapped in the Nigerian electricity market.
The Managing Director, Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Mr. James Olotu, who received the Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, in Abuja, yesterday, said that the fund accrued from payment of electricity generated into the national grid from some of its operational plants.
NDPHC, a joint venture of the three tiers of government built 10 thermal plants, transmission, distribution and gas infrastructures under the NIPPs as an interventionist measure in the power sector.
Olotu said that the firm was constrained by the lack of funds to make further investments, appealing to electricity customers, including the MDAs, to pay their debts.
“A company that is being owed N99bn, I don’t know how many companies can survive such credit line,” he said. “But for the management of the resources we have, we would have gone down.”
Olotu said that unpaid electricity bills by consumers have hampered activities in the power sector.
NDPHC said it had invested about $4.4bn to build the 10 power plants and conducted a bid round for their sales at $5.7 bn in 2014.
*Simon Echewofun Sunday – Daily Trust
