Economy
Sahara Power Group Backs Light Up Nigeria Energy Confab
By Dipo Olowookere
A conference aimed to address the key issues affecting the energy sector in Nigeria and also proffer solutions to them has received the full backing of one of the key players in the sector, Sahara Power Group, a subsidiary of Sahara Group, a leading international energy conglomerate in Africa.
Tagged the Light Up Nigeria Energy Conference, the event aims to bring together experts in the field, giving them the opportunity to air their views on issues affecting the industry.
The conference, scheduled to hold on Tuesday, May 15, 2018, at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos, will focus on “Repositioning the Energy Sector for Growth.’
Expected to grace the event is Mr Tonye Cole, the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Sahara Group, who is actually the Chairperson for the confab.
Speaking ahead of the programme, Mr Cole explained that the Group’s partnership with Brandzone LLC was a reflection of its concerted collaboration with stakeholders in the power value chain, in its bid to significantly contribute to the transformation of the sector for the benefit of all Nigerians.
According to him, “We are delighted to partner with Light Up Nigeria in a dual capacity. Sahara is not just a corporate player in most of the concerned sub-sectors, we also have a social purpose to fulfil by leading the movement to ‘Light up Nigeria’ and the wider sub-Saharan African region. I fully anticipate contributing to and learning from the conversation.”
Mr Cole reiterated the need for the Energy sector to position itself to play a more dominant role as a development and growth catalyst for the economy, while expressing optimism that the 2018 conference will definitely offer valuable insights in addressing the challenges, reveal more opportunities and innovative approach to achieving efficiency in the sector.”
Speaking further to the glaring ‘resource to capacity’ deficit blighting the country, Group Managing Director of Sahara Power Group Limited and Chairman of Egbin Power Plc, Mr Kola Adesina, remarked that Nigeria has Africa’s largest natural gas reserves but still disabled from generating power at even a third of capacity and he sees the conference as a platform to dissect the problem.
He also pointed out that it further gives the industry stakeholders the opportunity to proffer solutions both as corporates and concerned citizens.
In his words: “We could argue that lighting up Nigeria is a metaphor for powering the rest of the region with electricity. Getting power to homes and businesses has to be at the top of both national and regional socio-economic agendas. We are fully committed to seeking new and sustainable means of keeping our turbines turning and the economy growing.”
Sahara Power Group is one the largest private power businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its operating entities include, First Independent Power Limits, FIPL; Egbin Power Plc, sub-Saharan Africa’s largest privately owned thermal power generation plant and Ikeja Electric Plc, Nigeria’s leading Electricity Distribution Company.
Post the 2013 privatization exercise, SPG’s entities have continued to enhance the profile of the sector through ongoing investments in human capital, technology and service excellence.
Egbin has continuously invested in human capital and infrastructure upgrade to enhance the plant’s productivity.
This is evident in its planned investments in additional gas pipelines, and the proposed Floating Storage & Regasification Unit (FSRU) project, Egbin Phase 2 project with an estimated capacity of between 1,350MW and 1800MW using modern technologies.
It is the largest power generating plant in Nigeria and contributes over 20 percent of total electricity generated across Nigeria.
Ikeja Electric occupies a key position in the nation’s power sector geographically for its privileged coverage of many industrial centres. Since 2013, the company has embarked on execution of critical projects to stabilize the network and close identified immediate gaps in technical and customer service deliveries
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude production under the collective Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) fell in May to its lowest level in at least 37 years as the blockade of Iran by the United States and disruptions in the Persian Gulf, continued to limit output.
According to a Bloomberg survey released on Friday, output from the organisation’s 11 current members, including Nigeria, dropped by 1.22 million barrels per day to 16.33 million barrels per day last month.
Iran accounted for more than half of the decline. The data excludes the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which departed the cartel last month after six decades of membership.
War between a US-Israeli alliance and Iran has reduced oil supplies from the Middle East, largely closing the Strait of Hormuz waterway. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE and Kuwait have been forced to cut crude production. Iranian shipments face additional pressure following a US blockade of its ports imposed in mid-April.
Iranian output fell by 710,000 barrels per day to a five-year low of 2.34 million barrels per day in May, the survey showed. Central Command reported that US forces have redirected 127 commercial vessels to enforce the blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports.
Kuwait recorded the second-largest decline last month, with production falling by 310,000 barrels per day to 490,000 barrels per day, less than one-fifth of pre-war levels. Saudi Arabia, the group’s leader, saw output decrease by 240,000 barrels per day to 6.57 million barrels per day.
The production reductions have not prevented OPEC and its allies from raising quotas over recent months, continuing a year-long process of restoring output halted several years ago.
This comes ahead of a meeting scheduled to be held on Sunday, June 7, where a sub-group of seven members is expected to increase targets by 188,000 barrels again in July. The session is one of four online meetings OPEC and its partners plan to hold that day.
Delegates indicated the alliance has plans for two additional monthly quota increases in August and September. UAE output rose by 300,000 barrels per day to 2.44 million barrels per day in May, according to the survey.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The 2025 third quarter Budget Implementation Report from the Budget Office of the Federation has shown that the federal government exceeded the funds allocation for repayment of debts for the first nine months of the fiscal year by about 18 per cent.
In a report by Punch, the sum of N10.74 trillion was budgeted for debt servicing between January and September 2025, but the government used N12.63 trillion for the purpose, N1.90 trillion or 17.65 per cent more than the allocation for the year.
The funds were spent on domestic debts, foreign debts and sinking fund by the central government in nine months.
Business Post reports that for the whole year, the amount approved by the National Assembly and signed by President Bola Tinubu for debt repayments was N14.31 trillion.
Looking at the nine-month figures, domestic debt service gulped N6.23 trillion, exceeding its N5.39 trillion provision, while foreign debt service was N6.30 trillion versus the budget provision of N5.06 trillion.
According to the report, the figures indicated that 67.2 per cent of the federal government’s retained revenue of N18.63 trillion was spent on debt service in the first nine months of 2025. When the sinking fund is included, debt-related payments consumed about 67.8 per cent of revenue.
It was also observed that aggregate federal government revenue underperformed the budget by N12.03 trillion or 39.24 per cent, as actual revenue of N18.63 trillion fell short of the N30.67 trillion projected for the first three quarters.
In the third quarter alone, the government generated N7.70 trillion versus the quarterly target of N10.22 trillion as a result of persistent oil revenue shortfalls, despite stronger non-oil collections.
The debt burden also crowded out capital spending, as total capital expenditure was N3.10 trillion in the first nine months compared with the N17.58 trillion budgeted for the period, indicating that actual debt-related payments were more than four times capital expenditure.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a loss of 1.13 per cent on Thursday, June 4, shrinking the market capitalisation by N30.03 billion to N2.630 trillion from N2.660 trillion on Wednesday.
Similarly, this brought down the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 50.19 points to 4,396.08 points from the 4,446.27 points recorded a day earlier.
The loss was influenced by the overpowering of the bulls by the bears, after the bourse closed with two price gainers and three price losers, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which slumped by N20.03 to sell at N190.38 per unit compared with midweek’s N210.41 per unit. Food Concepts Plc declined by 25 Kobo to trade at N2.50 per share versus the previous day’s N3.00 per share, and Acorn Petroleum Plc crumbled by 2 Kobo to end at N1.32 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1.34 per unit.
For the gainers, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc added N2.93 to close at N78.34 per share compared with the previous price of N75.41 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 80 Kobo to settle at N16.80 per unit versus N16.00 per unit.
There was a slip in the volume of transactions yesterday by 46.8 per cent to 280,714 units from 527,221 units, as the value of trades dropped 66.5 per cent to N21.8 million from the preceding session’s N64.2 million, and the number of deals fell by 8.7 per cent to 42 deals from 46 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc ended the session as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 64.7 million units traded for N4.4 billion.
GNI Plc also finished the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units exchanged for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
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