Senate Warns as FG’s Unpaid Power Sector Debt Hits N800bn in 2025

• The Nigerian Senate has raised concerns over a deepening crisis in the power sector, revealing that the Federal Government has accumulated over N800bn in electricity debt in 2025 alone.

• Senate Power Committee Chair, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said the government owes about N200bn monthly due to tariff shortfalls, compounding an already existing N3tn debt.

The Senate Committee on Power has raised alarm over Nigeria’s deepening electricity sector crisis, disclosing that the Federal Government has accrued over N800 billion in debt to electricity generating companies (GenCos) so far in 2025 alone.

Speaking during a retreat organised by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in Ikot-Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who chairs the committee, described the situation as a worsening liquidity crisis.

He noted that “the tariff shortfall that we have means that every month the government owes N200bn of payments, and for this year, 2025, no payment has been made.”

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This N800bn figure comes on top of an already outstanding N3 trillion debt to GenCos, which in turn owe gas suppliers—threatening fuel supply continuity. “The gas suppliers cannot just continue to supply gas indefinitely,” Abaribe warned.

He called for an urgent, unified decision by both federal and state governments to address the funding dilemma. “We have two tiers of electricity markets. The state can do it, the Federal Government can do it, so they must all come together… Do we decide to subsidise fuel, or do we subsidise electricity that powers production?” he asked.

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Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, while presenting an overview of recent reforms, highlighted achievements under the Tinubu administration in boosting power generation but acknowledged persistent funding gaps and the rampant vandalism of critical energy infrastructure.

“Only in this country are energy equipment being vandalised in such magnitude,” Adelabu stated.

Also addressing the retreat, Akwa Ibom State Governor Umo Eno, represented by Deputy Governor Senator Akon Eyakenyi, stressed the vital role of electricity in driving Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and economic growth.

He expressed hope that the gathering of sector stakeholders would chart a sustainable way forward.