Published 20th Feb, 2024

By Sodeeq Atanda

Despite allocating millions of naira for electricity charges annually, Nigeria’s presidential villa and some federal government entities are facing the threat of being disconnected from the national grid.

A published notice of disconnection came from the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), which supplies electricity to the FCT, on Monday. Apart from the ministries, departments and agencies listed in the publication in ThisDay newspaper, some international bodies, such as the World Bank and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), are also indebted.

FIJ can report that the federal MDAs mentioned have been budgeting millions of naira annually to pay for electricity consumption.

FIJ’s checks on the budgets of some of these MDAs between 2022 and 2023 showed that electricity charges were part of their recurring expenditure.

2023 ALLOCATIONS FOR POWER

S/N	MINISTRY	AMOUNT
1	Environment	39,747,800
2	Education	1,599,000
3	Health	14,747,002
4	Justice	48,587,054
5	Information and Culture	39,209,557
6	Presidential Villa	360,251,676
7	EFCC	190,930,132
8	Foreign Affairs	109,775,666
9	Agriculture and Rural Development	67,178,347
10	Works and Housing	15,062,356
11	Communication	4,421,767
12	Transport	51,385,474
13	Mines	26,000,000
14	Power	500,000
15	Water Resources	11,000,000
16	Science and Technology	12,258,004
17	Total	992,653,035

2022 ALLOCATIONS

S/N	MINISTRY	AMOUNT
1	Environment	42,996,000
2	Education	30,650,000
3	Health	14,747,002
4	Justice	48,587,054
5	Information and Culture	39,209,557
6	Presidential Villa	354,000,000
7	EFCC	248,765,570
7	Foreign Affairs	96,650,694
8	Agriculture and Rural Development	63,067,783
9	Works and Housing	30,124,430
10	Communication	2,415,907
11	Transport	33,000,000
12	Mines	24,000,000
13	Power	2,700,000
14	Water Resources	1,000,000
15	Women Affairs	9,999,992
16	Science and Technology	12,258,004
17	Total	1,054,174,993

In two years, these ministries had N2,046,828,028 allocated for electricity payments. Although the details of the actual amounts released to them are not public, FIJ can confirm that these ministries have been budgeting millions of naira to cover their power consumption over the years. Hence, the latest disconnection threat over indebtedness is surprising.

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