The House of Representatives Committee on Finance, on Thursday, queried the Acting Managing Director of Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, Mr Johnson Akinowo, over the utilisation of N4.10bn accrued from regulatory income in the 2025 fiscal year.

The committee also suspended consideration of the agency’s 2026 budget proposal.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Mr Abiodun Faleke, expressed concern in Abuja during the 2025 budget performance review of the company, noting with worry several expenditure items reflected in documents submitted to the panel.

The Lagos lawmaker cited, among others, the sum of N377.03m spent on welfare packages out of an approved N377.658m allocation and N76.93m on “other expenses” from the N78.84m approved, as well as other recurrent expenditures in the 2025 budget.

Other committee members also faulted NBET management over an alleged breach of a directive issued by the Chief of Staff to the President banning overseas travel, following the use of N470.12m on international travel and transport for training out of an approved N479.85m.

According to the 2025 budget performance documents, the agency spent N111.80m on management, staff and board retreats; N71.38m on board sittings and directors’ allowances; N36.31m on professional fees; and N48.78m on conferences, seminars and exhibitions.

Other expenditures included N31.86m on refreshments and meals, N9.7m on cleaning and fumigation, N60.23m on maintenance of office and IT equipment, and N68.55m on office stationery and computer consumables.

Also, of concern to the Faleke-led committee were the N65.53m spent on local travel and transport, N79.10m on local travel and transport for training, and N1.78bn on personnel costs, among others.

Lawmakers further expressed concern over the non-declaration of revenue generated in December 2025 in the documents submitted for scrutiny.

Responding, Akinowo said, “As a corporate responsible organisation, we are guided by all the stipulations and directives. Every trip that you see that was funded had either an SGF or Head of Service approval. For instance, as the MD/CEO, if I am going to travel, I require the SGF’s approval.”

He explained that some of the trips were essential to Nigeria’s international financial obligations: “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, our presence was required to provide clarification.”

Akinowo added that he travelled as part of a Federal Ministry of Finance delegation, noting that other agencies under the ministry were also involved.

On funding for power sector reforms, the NBET boss disclosed that out of N855bn approved by the National Assembly for the programme, only N60m was released by the Federal Government.

Explaining the nature of NBET’s regulatory income, Akinowo said such revenues were part of the electricity market structure.

“For the revenues of 2025, regulatory income for participants in the electricity market is provided for them to run their operations,” he said.

According to him, the regulatory agencies include the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, and generation companies.

He added that regulatory revenues now exclude such agencies from recurrent appropriations.

On the alleged non-declaration of December 2025 revenue, Akinowo said the matter was procedural: “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 if that is in five days 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, Faleke said the committee resolved to make an omnibus request for documents from NBET, demanding evidence of all expenditures incurred in 2025, including approvals and waivers obtained from relevant authorities, such as the presidency.

As a result, the committee suspended consideration of NBET’s 2026 budget proposal and adjourned the hearing to Tuesday, 10 February 2026, when the Accountant-General of the Federation is expected to appear before it.

NBET’s 2025 budget performance has come under increasing scrutiny amid persistent concerns by lawmakers over weak fiscal discipline, rising recurrent expenditure and limited impact of budgetary allocations on stabilising Nigeria’s electricity market. In previous budget cycles, the National Assembly had queried the agency over low capital budget implementation, delays in power sector reform programmes and heavy dependence on regulatory income to fund operations.

Lawmakers have repeatedly raised concerns that despite significant appropriations and interventions, challenges such as liquidity shortfalls in the electricity value chain, mounting payment obligations to generation companies and slow progress in market reforms have continued to persist, prompting closer oversight of NBET’s financial management and budget execution.