ABUJA, (The Southern African Times) – Nigeria is planning to raise 90 billion naira ($219 million) next year from selling mostly government-owned power assets to help fund spending in 2022.
The National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs) which is the government vehicle that owns several power generation plants in Nigeria, would be up for sale soon.
However, the power assets that would be up for sale are yet to be disclosed by the government.
Finance minister Zainab Ahmed on Wednesday, said after a weekly cabinet meeting, “We’re projecting that in 2022 there will be more of these NIPPs that will be sold and from which we’ll realise this N90.3 billion.”
Ahmed said that because government revenues were not enough to fund government projects like roads, rail and water, it would continue resorting to borrowing.
The government of President Muhammadu Buhari plans to borrow nearly $6 billion in external financing to help fund spending in 2021 and to partly finance an expected 6 trillion naira deficit.
She added, “Nigeria’s borrowing has been of great concern and has elicited a lot of discussions, but if you look at the total size of the borrowing, it is still within healthy and sustainable limits”.
‘Total borrowing, which was equal to 23% of GDP as of July, was lower compared to its peers.’
In 2013, the government sold off shares in the state electricity company to private buyers, but that has not ended frequent power cuts in Africa’s biggest economy.
