FG Pays Over $120m To Offset Debts Owed Gas Suppliers 

Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu has revealed that the Federal Government of Nigeria has paid $120m out of the $1.3bn owed gas firms that supply gas for the running of power plants in the country.

Adelabu noted that the huge indebtedness made the gas suppliers to stop the supply of gas for power generation, resulting in the drop in electricity supply.

Director, Decade of Gas Secretariat, Ed Ubong. confirmed at the just concluded 7th Nigeria International Energy Summit that the Federal Government has paid part of the debts.

He said: “As of last year, that (gas debts) was about $1.3bn, depending on how you add up the numbers. But I am pleased that between October and the end of January, the government has paid over $120m to offset some of that money.

“More importantly, the government is also now working on a framework that can mitigate most of that failure. That’s a piece of work that is ongoing and we hope that it will be approved and then the industry can move away from that legacy issue.

“We must build capacity for that. Capacity for the engineers, and technicians that will work in this new gas sector that we are looking at for the next eight months. And as the secretary, we are committed to that.”