By; PETER NOSAKHARE, Kaduna
Federal Government’s intervention funding to the electricity distribution companies, Discos, has risen to 2.9 trillion Naira from 2 trillion Naira recorded as of May this year.
With the latest figures, there is an indication of a 45 per cent increase over the years.
By estimation, the 2.9 trillion Naira is the total funding extended to the sector since privatisation in 2013.
The Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises, Alex Okoh on Monday, said there was an approval of a fresh 2.3 billion Euro loan for the transmission and distribution arms of the sector.
Prior to the 2.3 billion Euros, the last one was the $500m by the World Bank to improve its electricity distribution sector in May.
“There are a lot of interventions going in that regard. There is 2.3 billion Euros for the transmission and distribution so that we can wheel more power for consumers,” Okoh added.
In November 2013, the Federal Government unbundled the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and sold 18 utility firms to private investors.
On refinery rehabilitation, the oil company spent N9.11bn in January, made no expense in February and March. It invested another 9.11 billion naira on the facility.
Itt would be recalled that 9.11 billion Naira in each of the months of April and May 2022 was spent on refinery rehabilitation, while investing 18.22 billion Naira on the plant in June.
In April this year, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, said the April 2023 completion date for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery was feasible and that the plant would refine 60,000 barrels of crude by early next year.
“This project kicked off second quarter last year and where they are now is quite impressive. It is on schedule. The commitment is to deliver 60,000 barrels per day from this refinery by the first quarter of next year, and, of course, we are quite happy,” Sylva had stated while inspecting the facility.
The NNPC officially signed the contract with Tecnimont SPA for the $1.5bn rehabilitation programme of the Port Harcourt Refining Company in April 2021 and had promised that the facility would be completed in 18 months.
Meanwhile the company’s July presentation to FAAC stated that the sum of 391.529 billion naira was the gross domestic crude oil and gas revenue for the month of June 2022.
