Abdulwahab Isa Abuja 
T
he Federal Government yesterday charged the newly inaugurated board members of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET) to reposition the power agency into defensive wall against potential payment defaults in which both generation and distribution companies are able to enter into power purchase agreements on bilateral basis.
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed and NBET board chairman tasked members of the board at the board’s inauguration.
She said NBET had to be able to successfully fulfill its role in the management and administration of financial flows in the sector, the promotion of a contract-based market that allocates risks efficiently to parties responsible for them and the formulation of policies for efficient system settlement.
A statement by the Minister’s Media Assistant, Abdullahi Tanko, quoted the Minister saying; “We have all come to better understand the role of NBET as the manager and administrator of the electricity pool in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), and how it buys electricity from the generating companies (GenCos), including Independent Power Producers (IPPs) under Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and resells same to the distribution companies (DisCos) via vesting contracts.
“The role of NBET in the stabilisation of the power sector cannot be overemphasised as it plays a key role in the generation of market confidence through well-negotiated and well aligned contracts with fair risk allocation that protects market participants from credit and systemic risks. NBET stands as a de-risking agent in the power industry as it acts as a credit worthy off-taker of power procured from Gencos in the absence of bi-lateral contracts between Gencos and Discos,” she stated.
The contractual obligations and guarantees NBET issued and managed, according to her, were therefore of strategic importance for the repositioning of the sector and delivering of benefits to Nigerians for which NBET was established.
