TheCable

Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), says Nigeria’s power sector has witnessed a  219 percent increase in liquidity over the past nine years, reaching N900 billion in 2023.

Liquidity refers to how much cash is readily available, or how quickly assets can be converted to cash.

Sanusi Garba, chairman of NERC, disclosed this at the ministerial retreat on the integrated national electricity policy and strategic implementation policy.

Garba said the increase in liquidity has also supported the improvement of DisCos’ revenue.

“Liquidity in the market has moved from N282bn in 2015 to N900bn now,” he said.

“We have also created a mechanism for enforcing payment discipline in the industry. This has seen Disco revenue improve greatly.

“We have reduced the fiscal burden on the government from N528bn to N155bn in 2022. Without our actions, the subsidy would have been in the region of N665bn.”

Emphasising the need for teamwork, Adebayo Adelabu, minister of power, appealed to industry players to work together with the government towards shared goals, with underperformance potentially hindering progress.

“I appealed to the people working with me, the agencies and public servants, that they should support us to ensure that we deliver and not disappoint Mr President,” he said.

“And I say we are using the carrot and stick approach. We are using the carrot now by appealing to ourselves.

“If this does not work, we are going to wield the big stick. Before I’m shown the way out, of course, a lot of people will also leave before me.

“So this (summit) is just a way of preparing ourselves to achieve the mandate and target of the power ministry.”