“Electricity Market Continues To Be Flawed” — NDPHC MD Laments Debt As Reps Give NBET Three Weeks For Repayment Plan

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has given the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company, NBET, three weeks to submit a repayment framework for a reported ₦632 billion debt owed to the Niger Delta Power Holding Company, NDPHC.

The committee, chaired by Rep. Bamidele Salam, issued the directive during an investigative hearing into outstanding electricity payments and their impact on NDPHC’s operations.

The development was reported on Wednesday, October 7, 2026. However, the available report did not specify the date of the hearing at which the ultimatum was issued.

Presenting NDPHC’s position, its Managing Director, Mrs Jennifer Adighije, said unpaid obligations stretching from 2015 to July 2026 had weakened the company’s liquidity and constrained its ability to sustain operations and execute capital projects.

She identified ₦388 billion in reconciled liabilities covering January 2015 to March 2025 and another ₦233.18 billion covering April 2025 to July 2026.

Although the overall debt was reported as ₦632 billion, the two components disclosed add up to ₦621.18 billion. The report did not explain the difference.

Adighije also said the approximately ₦40 billion paid by NBET after the reconciliation did not comply with the agreement reached between the two organisations.

She explained that NDPHC, established in 2005, had invested trillions of naira in electricity infrastructure, including power generation plants, transmission projects supporting the Transmission Company of Nigeria and distribution facilities serving electricity distribution companies.

According to her, persistent payment problems in the electricity market have undermined the company’s ability to recover its investments and finance further infrastructure.

“But unfortunately, the electricity market being operated continues to be flawed, which seriously affects our liquidity and also impairs our operations in terms of delivery of capital projects,” she said.

Adighije told the committee that recovery efforts initiated under her leadership had yielded results involving other customers.

She said the company had recovered a substantial portion of the $60 million owed by a bilateral customer in Togo, while approximately 95 per cent of the ₦9 billion owed by Eko Electricity Distribution Company had been cleared.

She urged that NDPHC be prioritised in the next tranche of the government’s power sector debt settlement programme, saying private generation companies had already received payments through NBET.

Responding, NBET’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Akin Odeyemi, acknowledged the outstanding obligations and outlined the government’s financing arrangements for settling verified electricity market debts.

He said President Bola Tinubu and the Federal Executive Council had approved a ₦4 trillion financing programme to address liabilities covering February 2015 to March 2025.

According to his presentation, approximately ₦1.23 trillion had been raised, with plans to increase the amount to ₦2 trillion before the end of 2026.

Odeyemi explained that verified liabilities within the programme’s approved period could be settled using funds raised from the capital market.

However, he said the ₦233.18 billion associated with obligations from April 2025 to July 2026 fell outside the period covered by the existing bond arrangement.

He attributed the newer liabilities to payment shortfalls involving distribution companies and tariff shortfalls requiring government funding.

NBET also reported that ₦40.38 billion had been paid into an escrow account in June 2026 towards older obligations.

In a separate presentation, the company’s Chief Financial Officer explained that electricity invoices contained portions payable by distribution companies and portions expected to be funded by the Federal Government through budgetary provisions for power sector reforms.

She said delays in the release of government funding, alongside distribution companies’ failure to meet their obligations, had contributed to the outstanding payments.

According to her, ₦800 billion had been approved for obligations relating to 2025 and 2026, while ₦179 billion was being processed for release.

She further told lawmakers that a request had been made to the Minister of Finance to increase the financing raised under the debt settlement programme from ₦1.23 trillion to ₦2 trillion before the end of the year.

The CFO also said the wider liabilities under negotiation had been reduced to ₦3.3 trillion.

During the hearing, lawmakers questioned the financial arrangements underpinning the electricity market, expressing concern that members were procuring transformers for their constituencies while distribution companies collected revenue from the communities served.

They also criticised proposals for higher, cost-reflective electricity tariffs, arguing that additional charges could worsen the financial burden on Nigerians.

Ruling on the presentations, Salam directed NBET to provide its repayment framework within three weeks and stressed the need for engagement with the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

The directive requires NBET to set out how the outstanding obligations will be addressed. It does not establish that the entire reported debt must be paid within the three-week period.

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