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By Gloria Ikibah

Nigeria’s House of Representatives has put the acting Managing Director of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc, Johnson Akinowo, under intense scrutiny over how the agency spent N4.099 billion earned from regulatory income in the 2025 financial year.

The grilling took place in Abuja on Thursday during a review of NBET’s 2025 budget performance, led by the House Committee on Finance. Committee chairman, Abiodun James Faleke, raised serious concerns about what lawmakers described as excessive and troubling expenditure patterns by the government-owned power trader.

Lawmakers were particularly alarmed that almost the entire welfare budget was exhausted, with N377.031 million spent out of N377.658 million approved. A similar trend was observed in other spending lines, including N76.939 million spent from an approved N78.838 million under miscellaneous expenses.

Further questions were raised over overseas travel spending, despite a standing directive from the President’s Chief of Staff restricting foreign trips. Records showed that N470.122 million was spent on international travel and training, nearly matching the N479.845 million budgeted for that purpose.
Documents submitted to the committee also revealed significant expenditure on internal engagements and administration. These included N111.804 million for management, staff and board retreats; N71.379 million for board sittings and directors’ allowances; N36.313 million on professional fees; and N48.779 million on conferences, seminars and exhibitions.

Other spending items that drew lawmakers’ attention were N31.858 million on refreshments and meals, N9.713 million on cleaning and fumigation, N60.231 million on office and IT maintenance, and N68.552 million on stationery and computer consumables. NBET also recorded ₦65.530 million for local travel and transport, N79.103 million for training-related local travel, and a hefty N1.780 billion on personnel costs.

Beyond the scale of spending, legislators also flagged what they described as a serious omission in NBET’s financial disclosures, noting that revenue generated in December 2025 was not declared in the documents submitted for review.

The committee demanded detailed explanations from NBET’s management, signalling that further action could follow if the inconsistencies are not satisfactorily addressed.

While responding to allegation bothering on the ban on international travel, he said: “yes, we are very aware of it and as a corporate responsible organization, we are guided by all the stipulations of that directive.

“So, every and all travels that you see that was funded there had either an SGF or Head of Service approval. For instance, at an MD/CE, if I am going to travel, I require that SGF approval…

“I’ll give you an example. For the World Bank Spring Meeting, in relation to the Partial Risk Guarantee of the Federal Government of Nigeria that Embed manages, they meagre the insurance and of the World Bank during the Spring Meetings, require our presence to provide clarification and to engage on their portfolio in Nigeria.”

He explained that he attended the session as part of the Federal Ministry of Finance delegation, stressing that other agencies under the ministry, including the Debt Management Office, the Bank of Industry and the Central Bank of Nigeria, were better placed to provide detailed explanations on several of the issues raised when they appear to defend the country’s position.

Akinowo also disclosed that although the National Assembly approved ₦855 billion for the power reform programme, the Federal Government released only N60 million.

According to him, the funds were made available very late, making it impossible for the agency to conclude the required procurement process. As a result, the N60 million has remained unused to date.

“For the revenues of 2025, regulatory income for participants in the electricity market are provided for them to run their operations. And I listed the agencies, that was why I tried to give that introductory background when I was speaking to the revenues. They are provided, it is the design of the electricity market that provides the revenue distribution. Distribution companies get two invoices.

“One is for energy and capacity which they pay to embed and embed pays to the GENCOs. The other one is for market administrative charge, which is supposed to cover the operations of the agencies of government that provide the service in the electricity market,” he explained.

According to him, the regulatory agencies include: the regulator, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), and GENCO of Nigeria to cover wheeling charges for wheeling the electricity as well as Nigerian Independent System Operator, which is comprised of the system operator and the micro operator to cover their operations.

He added that the regulatory revenue to cover their operations now makes them to be excluded from appropriation for the current. So we typically get capital from appropriation while we are supposed to run the operations from the recurrent from the regulatory revenue as approved by NERC, the regulator from time to time.

He explained that, the actual n line with extant rules, NBET funds the capital component of the annual budget from Appropriation Act.

While clarifying issues bothering on non-declaration of revenue accrued in December 2025, the NBET helmsman further explained that: “if you issue an invoice in December and it is not due for payment, if the contract says your invoice is due 25 days after, and that in five days is in January or in February, then that is what it is, because the legislation takes care of it and is captured for transparency.”

Ruling on the matter, the committee chairman, Rep. James Faleke, said the panel had agreed to make an omnibus request to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, insisting on comprehensive documentary evidence covering all expenditures incurred in 2025, alongside records of approvals and waivers obtained from relevant authorities, including the Presidency.

“As a committee, we have resolved to make an omnibus request from NBET. We are demanding documentary evidence of all expenditures incurred throughout 2025, as well as approvals and waivers obtained from relevant authorities, including the Presidency,” Faleke said.

He added that the committee would suspend further consideration of NBET’s 2026 budget proposal pending clarification. “Consequently, the consideration of the 2026 budget proposal is hereby suspended,” he ruled, announcing that the hearing was adjourned to Tuesday, 10 February 2026, when the Accountant General of the Federation is expected to appear before the committee.

The House Committee also turned its attention to the proposed N14.325 billion 2026 budget of the Federal Ministry of Finance, raising concerns over apparent discrepancies in the capital expenditure component during the budget defence at the National Assembly.

A breakdown of the proposal shows N4.5 billion allocated to personnel costs, N4.6 billion for overheads and ₦5.2 billion set aside for capital projects. However, lawmakers queried the structure of the capital vote, with Faleke demanding explanations over figures he described as inconsistent with standard capital budget projections.

“These figures do not align with what we ordinarily expect under capital expenditure, and we need clarity on how this was arrived at,” he said.

Responding to the concerns, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, explained that the contentious capital figure was compiled by the Budget Office and includes debt servicing obligations.

“The figure includes debt service components, which are not part of the ministry’s regular capital expenditure,” Edun said, adding that this classification gave the impression of an inflated capital allocation when, in reality, much of it relates to statutory debt service entries.

Also speaking at the session, the Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Mohammed Shehu, disclosed that the commission is actively engaging with several revenue-generating agencies to resolve long-standing fiscal and remittance challenges.

“We are currently engaging revenue-generating agencies to address outstanding fiscal and remittance issues,” Shehu said, noting that renewed consultations were already yielding results. “Agencies are increasingly approaching the commission to resolve lingering concerns around revenue accountability and compliance with existing frameworks.”