The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has vowed to avert a shutdown of the electricity sector over N4 trillion debts owed to power generation companies.
This comes as Adelabu claimed the federal government would clear N2 trillion of the N4 trillion debt before the year ends.
The Minister disclosed this while responding to questions from journalists at the sixth Ministerial Press Briefing held in Abuja on Thursday.
His commitments come after GenCos on Monday, threatened to shut down the country's power generation over N4 trillion in debt owed by the federal government.
Reacting, Adelabu said the government has put in place measures to defray the debt through budgetary allocation and promissory notes.
“Almost all of the debt is inherited, while about half came from 2024.
“There are plans under way to clear the debt; while I am not sure that the debt will be cleared 100 percent, it will be paid gradually.
“The modes of payment are of two ways: we have some budgetary allocation that will facilitate cash payment, and we are also in discussion with Gencos to get them some promissory notes. I can tell you that before now to the end of the year, we are going to pay close to N2 trillion of the 4 trillion,” he said.
DAILY POST recalls that Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the GenCos, Rtd. Colonel Sani Bello, threatened to
