Stakeholders in the power sector, including legal luminaries, yesterday expressed concern over the alleged receivership claims against Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC), First Independent Power Limited and Egbin Power Plc.
Such claims, which they described as unfounded, are capable of disrupting the fragile power sector and discouraging investors from participating.
The Principal Counsel, Gbenga Asaju and Co, Dr. Gbenga Asaju, said based on the certified true copy of the judgments circulating in the media, the receiver manager may have been appointed by his client, but he cannot claim to have taken over because there is a restraining order dated June 24, 2025 and reaffirmed on August 5, 2025.
According to the legal icon, until such order is vacated, the receiver manager is incapable of acting.
“There are issues that must be resolved first. Yes, the judgment of the Federal High Court obtained on June 24, 2025, is subsisting; it is a restraining order on anyone and everyone involved”.
“So, no one, including anyone who purportedly said that he was appointed as a receiver manager, can function as a receiver manager as it is now, until the disposition of the interlocutory issues before the court.
“Whenever there is a suit of this nature, and there is also an interlocutory application, the interlocutory application must be disposed of first, before the substantive suit.
“So, in that wise, whatever appointment he (receiver manager) may have got, or anybody, or any other person for that matter, will have to be in abeyance until the disposition of the interlocutory action. That is the position of the law.
“So, the advertorial by the power companies itself is very much in order. And that should serve as enough warning or deterrent to anybody claiming to be a receiver manager.
“He may have been appointed before now, but the restraining order pushes any other into some backwaters for now, so he can’t function as a receiver manager as it is.
“From the point of the law, the companies mentioned are not in receivership, or they cannot be said to be in receivership for now.
“Any receiver manager that may have been appointed cannot function in that capacity until, again, as I said, until the determination of the interlocutory action, because what they have is a restraining order.
“They are effectively restrained by the judgment of the Federal High Court,” Dr. Asaju said.
Yesterday, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) condemned the alleged receivership, insisting that the Federal Government’s shareholding equity in the Ikeja DisCo remains 40 per cent.
The BPE Director-General, Dr. Ayodeji Gbeleyi, described the declaration of 70 per cent shares for Ikeja DisCo was an error on the part of the Receiver/Manager.
“The matter is currently undergoing review internally. The Receiver/Manager goofed in making the publication, as the government equity shareholding of 40 per cent in Ikeja Disco remains intact. We are currently reviewing the matter internally,” he said.
The power firms’ management has swiftly refuted the claims, insisting that they were not only false but “represent a gross misrepresentation of facts and a malicious attempt at self-help designed to subvert the course of justice.”
“We state unequivocally and for the record that Egbin Power Plc, First Independent Power Limited, and Ikeja Electric Plc are absolutely not in Receivership, and their assets, businesses, or undertakings are not under the management of any external Receiver/Manager whatsoever,” the Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer, Ikeja Electric, Babatunde Osadare, said on behalf of the power companies’ Management.
For the Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr. Muda Yusuf, receivership is not a good omen for the power sector, which is still struggling to find its feet.
“What has happened to the Disco is also partly a consequence of the prohibitive interest rate in the economy, given the high degree of leveraging of most of the Discos.
“It is very difficult for any long-term project to survive the current excruciating lending rate in the economy,” Dr Yusuf said.
He said that given the power sector’s strategic importance, the government’s urgent intervention is imperative to prevent a complete collapse of the national power ecosystem because the power sector is not just a business; it is crucial for economic development, economic sustainability and economic security.
Yusuf’s submission aligns with the recent position of President Bola Tinubu, who last week appealed to the power generation companies (GENCOs) to give the federal government more time to complete the verification and validation of longstanding N4 trillion debts owed to them.
During a meeting with members of the Association of Power Generation Companies, led by Col. Sani Bello (rtd) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the President assured them of his administration’s commitment to resolving the liquidity challenges in the power sector.
The Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Mrs. Olu Verheijen, said a N4 trillion bond programme has received anticipatory approval from President Tinubu to address the liquidity shortfall in the sector.
President Tinubu acknowledged the historic liabilities inherited from previous administrations and pledged transparency and fairness in addressing them:
“I accept the assets and liabilities of my predecessors, and there is no question about that. But that acceptance must be on credible grounds.
“I need to wear the audit cap of verifiability, authenticity, and the fact that this inheritance is not a mere deodorant but a support structure for critical economic and industrial promotion.”
The President emphasised the need for patience from GENCOs and financial institutions, noting that government agencies are actively engaging audit and legal firms to scrutinise the claims.
“We are here. So market it to your other colleagues. Give us time to do verification and validation of the numbers,” he said.
While reaffirming his belief in a market-driven electricity sector, the President said the industry’s long-neglected legacy issues are now receiving the attention they deserve.
“This is a longstanding issue that is now being dealt with. I know how much we have been able to save on fuel subsidies. We introduced the alternative, CNG, to bring relief back to the people.”
President Tinubu also emphasised the government’s commitment to creating a stable investment environment and avoiding extreme measures, such as bank asset foreclosures, against the generation companies.
“To our friends in the banking sector, I ask that we avoid foreclosures. Sharpen your pencils, but keep an eraser handy. Let’s persevere together.”
Describing electricity as “the most important discovery of humanity in the last 1,000 years,” the President reaffirmed that access to electricity is fundamental to economic growth and human dignity.
The Special Adviser to the President, Ms. Verheijen, attributed the liquidity crisis to “a combination of unfunded tariff shortfalls and market shortfalls” that have built up over a decade.
She stated that as of April 2025, the Federal Government is carrying a verified exposure of N4 trillion in debts to GENCOs, an accumulation dating back to 2015.
“We have since sat with 27 GENCOs—not all of them are here today—and reviewed their PPAs and gas sales agreements to understand the legitimacy of their claims. The GENCOs claimed about N4 trillion from 2015 to the end of 2023,” she said.
According to her, the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET)—the agency that contractually mediates between GENCOs and the government—has validated N1.8 trillion of these claims so far.
“Since that period, we have had N200 billion in unfunded subsidies that have accumulated the federal government’s liability.
“So, as of April 2025, the total exposure that we are carrying at the moment is N4 trillion,” she added.
(The Nation)
