Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu has guaranteed the Army of his readiness to dialogue with Distribution Companies (DisCos) over its electricity debt burden amounting to N42 billion.
The Minister spoke when the Chief of Army Staff (CAS) Lt. General Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja visited and appealed for his intervention over the debt burden.
The Army Chief described blackouts in army barracks and cantonment as security threats.
Quoting the Minister in a statement, his Special Adviser, Strategic Communication and Media Relations, Mr. Bolaji Tunji, reiterated the importance of liquidity and funding in the sector adding the debts could not be written off but the Minister will intervene to restructure based on assurance of regular payment by the Army.
Adelabu further said debt owed by distribution and Generating Companies (GenCos) is not the only challenge bedevilling the sector, adding vandalisation of power infrastructure which often lead to national grid collapse, theft, inefficiency in billing and collection process, poor metering gap, liquidity, shortage in gas supply, transmission stations being blown up with explosives in volatile areas are all part of the issues being experienced in the Power sector.
While encouraging the Army to continue assisting in safeguarding power facilities across the nation, the Minister pledged to seek collaboration for the Army through any of the development partners for installation of Solar PVs and Battery Energy Storage System(BESS) as alternative power supply in Army barracks and cantonment.
