Economy
FG Begins Disbursement of N701b to GenCos
By Dipo Olowookere
Earlier this year, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, announced the approval of N701 billion by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) as bailout to the power sector, especially for the power generation subsector.
He had explained that the N701 billion was like a payment assurance fund to be given to electricity generating companies fondly called GenCos in the country for energy delivered on a monthly basis for two years, beginning from January, 2017.
Mr Fashola had further explained that the money would be disbursed by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET) to the GenCos.
Head of Corporate Communications of NBET, Henrietta Ighomroro, has exclusively informed Leadership newspaper that about 10 GenCos have so far received N12 billion from the N710 billion intervention fund.
She listed those paid as Kainji, Jebba, Shiroro, Geregu, Olorunshogo, Omotosho, Shell Afam, Opai Agip and Omoku.
“The N701 billion intervention of the federal government is a loan to NBET to, in the short term, enable it meet its payment obligations to the GenCos for power certified delivered on a monthly basis so they can have enough revenue to pay gas suppliers and run their operational and overhead costs, and it is meant to run for two years, beginning from January,” the spokeswoman told Leadership newspaper in an interview.
According to her, the intervention only provides additional fund to enable the GenCos meet their obligations.
She said scheme is for GenCos that have the contractual pact known as Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with NBET.
“We have 22 of them that are into the agreement with us, and you can be entitled after all the requisite documentations with a guarantee that you have delivered an amount of power, not just because you are a generating company,” she said.
Under the arrangement, the Payment Assurance is to guarantee payment of 80 percent of the GenCos’ invoice, while 90 percent of that percentage is earmarked for direct payment to the gas suppliers by NBET in offsetting the GenCos bill, leaving the remaining 10 percent for the GenCos in addition to the payment received from the distribution companies (DisCos) to run their businesses.
Ighomroro added that the distribution companies were able to pay about 33 percent of their invoice to NBET for the month of January, which NBET has also paid the GenCos, apart from the one accruing to them from the Payment Assurance Scheme.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
