Economy
FG to Prioritise FX Allocation to Egbin Power, Others
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu, has disclosed that the federal government was working to gradually offset the debt owed Nigeria’s largest power generation company, Egbin Power, from April 2024, noting that constraints of gas supply and foreign exchange (FX) are also being tackled.
Mr Adelabu gave this assurance during his visit to the power plant in Lagos as part of his strategic measures to strengthen understanding among stakeholders, offer robust support to players, and address the challenges in the sector, with the overall aim of boosting power supply in Nigeria.
“The federal government is prioritising paying down on the outstanding debt and I have assured the board and management of Egbin Power that, effective April, we will start paying as a form of encouragement to continue to have them in operations,” the Minister said, according to a statement.
Regarding the constraints encountered by power generation companies (GenCos) in accessing forex, Mr Adelabu stated that crucial steps were being taken to prioritize allocation to the GenCos.
“Forex sourcing has been a major constraint to effective maintenance of the facility. I have seen what we have on the ground here, and the critical need for spares and tools for continuous maintenance. We will liaise with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to prioritize foreign exchange allocation to the power sector.
“This will ensure the companies can ramp up capacity in terms of output. It is not just peculiar to Egbin Power Plant, it is across all the power generating Plants. They need Forex for them to be able to maintain the turbines and replace tools and spares. This has been a major issue. I am going to take steps to ensure I liaise with the CBN to see how they can prioritize Forex allocation to the power-generating companies,” he added.
While speaking on challenges of gas supply, he explained that engagements were held with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and gas suppliers as part of measures to guarantee payment of debts and resolution of the gas constraints.
“Gas shortage has impeded almost all our gas power plants. And we already had a conversation with the Minister of Petroleum Resources. We are also meeting with the gas suppliers to plead with them and have an understanding that the FG is prepared to start paying down the debt that we owe the gas supply companies.
“We need to make some cash injection in terms of payments, we want to give them some guaranteed debt instruments in terms of promissory notes. And we are looking at allowing them access to Nigerian gas wells. So that this will be used to defray the outstanding debt of the gas suppliers over time,” he explained.
The Minister commended the Board and Management team of Egbin Power for its robust investment to improve, sustain and maintain the Plant’s infrastructure and facility while contributing largely to the sector despite the challenges.
Speaking on the issues, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Egbin Power, Mr Mokhtar Bounour, said: “One of the major challenges we are facing is gas constraint, which is not allowing us to run the full capacity of the Plant. It requires a lot of investment efforts to keep the units running and safe.
“The other issue is the accumulated debt which the Minister discussed with us. On our part, we are adequately ensuring the maintenance, availability of the Plant and its efficiency. We are investing a lot to get these units to run optimally. This requires millions of dollars in investment,” Mr Bounour explained.
He commended the Minister for his commitment to address the challenges. “We highlighted the challenges we are facing, and the Federal Government, through the Minister of Power, has promised to start solving them gradually so we can start seeing improvements soon. We hope that the liquidity challenge will be solved soon as the Minister has promised,” Mr Bounour added.
In a related development, electricity distribution companies (DisCos) have pleaded for understanding from their customers as the country plunged into another blackout due to grid collapse – the second time this year after it collapsed on February 4.
The national electricity grid collapsed at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, throwing millions of homes and businesses into darkness.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
One of the paint makers in Nigeria, Premier Paints Plc, is currently in talks with a new investor, Xenergi Limited, for the purchase of 51 per cent stake in the company.
Xenergi Limited intends to acquire shares of Clover Global Resources Limited and TGHL Capital Limited in the organisation.
Business Post gathered that the new investor will buy 39.02 per cent from Clover Global Resources Limited and 15.20 per cent from TGHL Capital Limited.
The deal, according to a regulatory notice issued on Tuesday on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, will involve about 63 million shares of Premier Paints.
At the current share price of the paint producer, this should be about N630 million as it closed at N10.00 per unit on NGX on December 16, 2025.
“Subject to obtaining required regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close before January 31, 2026.
“The company will continue to inform the public of the progress of the transaction,” the disclosure signed by the company secretary, Alozie Nwokoro, said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira was flat against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Tuesday, December 16, retaining the previous closing value of N1,451.82/$1.
In the same vein, the local currency saw no movement against the Pound Sterling and the Euro in the spot market during the session at N1,943.98/£1 and N1,705.74/€1, respectively.
Also, the Nigerian Naira remained unchanged in the black market yesterday at N1,475/$1 and was N1,460/$1 at the GTBank forex counter.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has strengthened US Dollar supply with $250 million to authorised dealer banks at the official window cumulatively as foreign portfolio investors, exporters and non-bank corporate supply dripped.
The spread between official and other non-regulated markets decreased to N30.59$/1 from N44.57/$1, from the previous week, research subsidiary of Coronation Merchant Bank Limited said in a report.
FX analysts said foreign exchange inflows through the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market decreased to $716.3 million from $844.70 million in the previous week , a 15 per cent drop in a week.
Foreign portfolio investors accounted for the highest share of inflows at 32.98 per cent, followed by exporters at 30.84 per cent, the CBN (17.36 per cent), Non-bank Corporates (16.94 per cent), others (0.72 per cent) and Individuals (0.63 per cent).
On Monday, Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased to 14.45 per cent in November 2025, down from 16.05 per cent recorded in October, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), representing a decrease of 1.6 percentage points month-on-month and marks a significant moderation compared to the same period last year.
As for the cryptocurrency market, there was some recoveries after overall capitalization falling below $3 trillion for the third time in a month. Large-cap assets, particularly those with Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) exposure, are experiencing selling pressure as institutional investors reassess risk.
Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 1.5 per cent to $1.92, Litecoin (LTC) expanded by 1.5 per cent to $78.91, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 0.8 per cent to $0.1308, Solana (SOL) went up by 0.4 per cent to $127.60, Binance Coin (BNB) grew by 0.3 per cent to $865.40, and Bitcoin (BTC) gained 0.2 per cent to sell at $86,735.17.
On the flip side, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 1.0 per cent to $0.3802 and Ethereum (ETH) slumped by 0.4 per cent to $2,935.85, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) were flat at $1.00 each.
By Dipo Olowookere
A marginal 0.01 per cent rise was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday. This was different from the flattish mode of the market the previous day.
Investor sentiment remained bullish as Customs Street finished with 31 price gainers and 26 price losers, implying a positive market breadth index.
Aluminium Extrusion topped the gainers’ log after it improved its price by 10.00 per cent to N9.35, Guinness Nigeria appreciated by 9.98 per cent to N263.40, Multiverse expanded by 9.95 per cent to N12.15, MeCure Industries also soared by 9.95 per cent to N45.85, and Sovereign Trust Insurance advanced by 9.89 per cent to N4.11.
Conversely, Haldane McCall led the losers’ chart after it shed 9.93 per cent to settle at N3.72, Veritas Kapital lost 9.09 per cent to close at N1.60, LivingTrust Mortgage Bank also declined by 9.09 per cent to N3.50, and Linkage Assurance depreciated by 5.71 per cent to N1.65.
During the trading day, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 21.23 points to 149,459.11 points from the previous day’s 149,437.88 points and the market capitalisation increased by N14 billion to N95.281 trillion from N95.267 trillion.
Yesterday, traders transacted 1.0 billion equities for N21.8 billion in 23,701 deals compared with the 553.1 million equities valued at N13.3 billion traded in 28,907 deals on Monday, representing a decline in the number of deals by 18.01 per cent, and a surge in the trading volume and value by 80.80 per cent and 63.91 per cent apiece.
Access Holdings traded 385.8 million stocks worth N7.7 billion, Champion Breweries transacted 111.8 million shares valued at N817.8 million, Sterling Holdings exchanged 85.5 million equities for N589.9 million, FCMB sold 74.7 million shares valued at N791.5 million, and First Holdco transacted 51.9 million equities worth N1.8 billion.
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