The House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee investigating Nigeria’s power sector reforms and expenditure from 2007 to 2024 has demanded clarification from the Azura-Edo Independent Power Plant over its failure to account for N18 billion received from the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc in 2023.
The Committee Chairman, Ibrahim Aliyu, issued the query on Monday during the resumed investigative hearing at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja.
Aliyu noted that official records before the Committee showed that the company received over N18 billion between January and June 2023 as excess tariff payments and other financial settlements from NBET—funds which were not disclosed in Azura’s written submission to the Committee.
He stressed that the Committee’s mandate covers not only technical performance data but also the financial obligations of the Federal Government to private operators through NBET, Central Bank intervention programmes and statutory appropriations.
In response, Azura’s Head of Legal and Compliance, Akeem Olabende, admitted that the company failed to provide documentation relating to the NBET payments.
He also confirmed that Azura omitted information on budgetary allocations, loans, grants, bank settlements, and other Federal Government-linked financial inflows.
“We did not fully understand the documentation that the committee required.
“Now that I have a clearer understanding, we will go back and ensure that all the financial documents and additional details the committee has requested are provided,” Olabende said.
Committee members reminded Azura of its obligations under the Constitution and warned that failure to provide full disclosures could compel the Committee to exercise its legislative powers to enforce compliance.
Meanwhile, the Committee has granted another appearance date to the Managing Director of the Yola Electricity Distribution Company, Abdulrahman Isa, to present his submission.
NBET is responsible for purchasing electricity from generation companies under Power Purchase Agreements and reselling it to distribution companies.
Under these agreements, especially for privately financed power plants, NBET makes capacity and energy payments regardless of the volume of electricity taken by the grid.
Azura-Edo Power Plant, commissioned in 2018 as a 461MW open-cycle gas turbine facility, operates under a take-or-pay PPA.
This agreement obligates NBET to make regular payments covering capacity charges, energy charges, and other tariff-related obligations even when the grid is unable to fully dispatch the plant’s available supply.
In 2023, NBET made over N18 billion in payments to Azura, including excess tariff payments arising from tariff reconciliations under the PPA, financial settlements related to capacity charges and service obligations and payments tied to government-backed guarantees that ensure GenCos receive consistent revenue despite liquidity shortfalls in the electricity market.
These payments form part of the Federal Government’s long-standing financial commitments to the Azura project, backed by sovereign guarantees and international financing agreements.
Because the national grid often cannot absorb Azura’s full generation due to system constraints, capacity charges—paid whether or not electricity is dispatched, make up a substantial portion of the company’s revenue stream.
The Ad hoc Committee is now scrutinising how these funds were received, recorded, and utilised, as part of a broader investigation into the financial outlays made by government agencies across the power sector over the last 17 years.
The Committee’s query emerged after Azura’s initial submissions failed to reflect the N18bn NBET payments documented in government records.
