Senate Probes NBET’s Survival After N858bn Budget Release Fails to Materialise

…Agency received only N60m despite huge appropriation

The Senate on Thursday questioned how the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc managed to operate in 2025 after receiving just N60 million out of the N858 billion appropriated to it in the federal budget.

The query came during a session of the Senate Committee on Finance, chaired by Sani Musa (APC, Niger East), as lawmakers expressed concern over what appeared to be a total absence of cash backing for the agency’s capital allocation.

The committee demanded to know how NBET had stayed afloat despite the non-release of the N858 billion earmarked for it in the 2025 fiscal year.

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Responding, Johnson Akinnawo, Acting Managing Director of NBET, told the panel that the agency had relied on regulatory income to sustain its operations.

He admitted, however, that the failure to release the capital vote had deepened the agency’s financial strain, particularly its obligations to power generation companies.

“The gap between generation costs and allowed tariffs is substantial, and without government intervention, the market cannot remain stable,” he said.

Lawmakers also pressed the agency on whether it intended to seek additional capitalisation to stabilise its operations and meet mounting market obligations.

In response, Akinnawo acknowledged that undercapitalisation remained a major challenge.

He disclosed that NBET’s management had engaged both the Budget Office and the Ministry of Finance over the non-release of the appropriated funds.

He warned that without adequate funding support, NBET’s stabilising role in the electricity value chain would remain severely constrained, with implications for generation companies and overall power supply.

Musa subsequently directed NBET to submit a detailed proposal outlining its funding requirements and strategic roadmap for addressing structural challenges in the power sector.

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The committee is expected to examine the submission as part of its review of the 2026 budget proposal, amid heightened legislative scrutiny of Nigeria’s struggling electricity market.

NBET was established as a bulk trader in the power sector, purchasing electricity from generation companies (GenCos) and selling to distribution companies (DisCos), while providing payment guarantees to GenCos to stabilise the market.