Vice President Namadi Sambo is certainly surprised at the bill the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) is giving the Federal government and its showing this by the directive he gave them recently which include full disclosure of how much funds it is generating as well as the amount it gets from government as supplements.
PHCN authorities had been using bills owed by government agencies as an excuse of not meeting up with debts owed both government and financial institutions. They allege they owed over N10billion
However an internal document of the PHCN showed that the company owes the Nigerian Gas Company, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) N8.4 billion and N1.54 billion respectively for dry gas supplied to its thermal power plants.
The utility company also, as at March 2010, owed Shell’s independent power plant and Nigerian Agip Oil Company’s independent power plant N3.9 billion and N51.1billion respectively for electricity it bought from the companies.
But spokesperson of PHCH Mrs Effuru Igbo said “On the debt incurred by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, the Federal Government has entered into the Bridging Loan Agreement with the company,”
However i discovered that “In 2009, Shell Nigeria Gas Limited supplied natural gas from fields in the Niger Delta to more than 50 customers in industrial centres in Ogun and Abia states, while SPDC is the major gas supplier to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) plant from its various field,” he added.
Meanwhile, an earlier document from the PHCN also indicated that it owes Lahmeyer International Consultancy N384billion and has owed its staff monetisation arrears since 2003 worth N64.9billion
Other trade liabilities by the PHCN include N10billion owed as taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service; N12.2billion owed NICON Insurance as insurance claims; N1.2billion owed to sundry creditors and N1.5billion statutory deductions for Industrial Trust Fund.
Other outstanding debts owed by PHCN are in favour of Mitsubishi Corporation for the maintenance of Jebba hydro station; British Electrical Industrial Limited for the maintenance of Sapele thermal power plant; and Campagnia Electro Tech Italian Spa for the maintenance of Lagos Distribution System extension.
PHCN in the same vein, owes GE High Voltage for the maintenance of 330KV substations in Benin, Jebba and Osogbo.
“PHCN also owes the Federal Government N14.7bn, which it borrowed and used to finance sundry capital expenditure between 1990 to 1998,” the document added.
Similarly, the company also owes state governments N8m borrowed in the 1970s and used to finance sundry capex.
The utility company also took overdraft worth N2.7bn from Afribank, First Bank, Union Bank and United Bank in 2003.
Foreign loans which were used to finance the construction of power stations in the 1970s and 1980s, notably Jebba and Egbin stand at N37bn while World Bank and German government loans used to finance capex stand at N9.4bn and N2bn respectively.
Other loans taken by PHCN in 2005 included N18bn owed SEPCO, which was used to finance Olorunsogo power plant and N18bn taken from CEMEC in 2006 and used to finance Omotosho power plant.
