WorldStage– By December 2026, Nigerian will be owing the Electricity Generating Companies (GENCOs) N8.8 trillion in unpaid debt, if nothing changes, and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the minister of power will take responsibility.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Power Generation Companies, Dr Joy Ogaji told WorldStage News on Thursday that the mounting debt stemmed from leadership failure.
“Everything rises and falls on leadership, according to John Maxwell,” she said. “If you believe that then you know the debt problem is a question of leadership.”
Earlier in an interview on Arise TV, Ogaji had insisted the power debate in Nigeria lacks technocrats’ contributions, one of the reasons the problem persists.
But the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) comprises experts in the field. Its chairman Abdullahi Garba Ramat, a licensed electrical engineer, has expertise in regulatory governance. Its board also boasts experts in compliance, analytics, technical regulation and others. None of them, however, is willing to take responsibility for the power problem, especially for the debt crippling the sector.
“When everybody begins to blame the other person, it means we have a regulator who is outside,” Ogaji told World Stage News.
Using another analogy of a typical secondary school where everyone in the classroom is yelling, she emphasized the absence of a monitor, NERC in this case.
She, however, admitted the sector’s leadership rests not on the regulator alone.
“We have regulatory and policy leaderships. The power ministry is responsible for policy,” she said.
Electricity policy failure started with the 2005 Electric Power Sector Reform (ESPR) Act and the 2013 privatization. Nigeria has been struggling with underutilization of its installed 14,000 mw since then, producing 5000mw instead, according to Ogaji.
President Bola Tinubu’s administration has set up the Presidential Power Sector Debt Reduction Programme through its N500-billion inaugural bond, a far cry from full repayment
“The N500-billion bond from N6.5 trillion debt is approximately 7.5 percent payment of Gencos’ debt as of January 2026,” she said.
Other initiatives focus on renewable energy and distribution system.
