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“Improve electricity in Nigeria” – CBN says it releases N3.01bn to DisCos

Published

1 year ago

March 26, 2023

The Central Bank of Nigeria has disclosed the release of N3.01 billion to electricity distribution companies (DisCos). This amount is the latest release of a total of N213 billion Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility.

The recent release also rounds up to a total of N18.26 billion so far disbursed to the first batch of beneficiaries of the programme.

According to the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, the intervention was made to improve the liquidity status of DisCos and aid their recovery of legacy debt which has been a major hindrance to their operations.

The grant will be issued under the Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility (NEMSF-2) for capital and operational expenditure of DisCos.

The CBN boss stated the apex bank was collaborating with the entire banking sector to provide the facility to address recent shortfalls in power sector revenues caused by needed adjustments in the electricity tariff and legacy gas debts.

He added that the grant was a way to encourage the electricity revolution in Nigeria and motivate DisCos to deliver significant improvement in power supply across Nigeria.

Emefiele urged the beneficiaries to ensure the proper investment of the funds in the upgrades of their lines of energy generation and distribution, and better metering of customers.

Nigerians Lament Poor Electricity Supply

Meanwhile Edujandon.com earlier reported that even though power generation has experienced a slight improvement for the most part of 2022, it is still lower than the 5,000MW target by the Federal Government.

The report indicated that lead generators which contributed to the surge in generation across the country include Egbin Power, Delta Power, Azura-Edo IPP, Iroro Hydro, Kainji Hydro, Odukpani NIPP and Jebba Hydro.

In many parts of the country, the power supply is still widely epileptic as they get to experience power for not more than 3-4 hours a day. In some places, power can be gone for two straight days.

Tunde Akinyele told that the electricity issue in his locality has become unbearable as he never gets to have power whenever he returns from work in the evening. Another electricity consumer in the Ipaja area, John Ojo, who spoke with Edujandon.com said that he has come to accept the unfortunate situation by relying more on his inverter.