Nigerian Government has paid about N1.23 trillion of its legacy debts to electricity generation companies (GENCOs) through bond issuances, with plans to clear the outstanding balance in 2027.
The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, disclosed this at the Harvard Business School Association of Nigeria (HBSAN) Energy Conference in Lagos, according to a statement issued on the event.
Tegbe said the government’s objective went beyond settling accumulated debts, stressing that measures were also being pursued to prevent fresh arrears from building up in the electricity sector.
He reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to providing steady and reliable electricity to Nigerians, noting that clearing outstanding obligations to generation companies was essential to attracting investment and improving power supply to homes and businesses.
The minister said the administration of President Bola Tinubu remained committed to completing the repayment of legacy debts owed to GENCOs in 2027.
According to the statement, settling the obligations and maximising available electricity generation capacity would help strengthen the power sector and make it more attractive to investors in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda.
The government recently embarked on a N728.979 billion Series 2 bond issuance as part of its debt settlement programme, bringing the total amount raised through the initiative to approximately N1.23 trillion.
In April 2026, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen, disclosed that Tinubu had approved a N3.3 trillion payment plan to settle longstanding legacy debts in the power sector.
Verheijen said the plan was designed to address obligations accumulated between February 2015 and March 2025 under the Presidential Power Sector Financial Reforms Programme.
She explained that the payment plan followed a final review of the outstanding liabilities, which had affected the electricity industry for more than a decade.
However, the Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), Dr Joy Ogaji, had disputed the reported debt figures, claiming that the total amount owed was at least N7 trillion.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, said at the signing ceremony for the N728.979 billion bond in Abuja that the government’s intervention was intended not only to resolve accumulated liabilities but also to prevent a recurrence of unpaid obligations in the electricity market.
The Federal Government’s debt repayment programme is part of broader efforts to address financial challenges in the power sector, improve investor confidence and support more reliable electricity supply across the country.
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