Does this quote from the Managing Director of Dangote Cement put squarely the risk banks face in their lending to the power sector. Check it out;
“As you know, the gas and the fuel oil supply situation is going from bad to worse every day and all the manufacturing industries and all the power plants are affected. “
He said: “If you talk to most of the banks that have provided most of the finance, their concern is that they will have to go back to the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to recover their investments because many of the power firms are unable to pay. To continue to hope without taking action will amount to watching one’s investments go down the drain.”
He said although the gas firms did well in the past by supplying about 90 per cent of the energy needs of manufacturers, especially in the Lagos sector, the situation has since deteriorated.
Edwin said: “You go invest in power plants and you can’t get gas, so your entire investment has gone awry. If we don’t have gas and fuel, no business can survive. For our industry, you can go and invest in the best of equipment; you can get the best of skills to operate the equipment, but if you don’t have power, there’s very little you will be able to do.”
https://thenationonlineng.net/new/dangote-to-build-three-coal-power-plants-for-cement-factories/
