The Federal Government of Nigeria has reached an agreement with its Ghanaian counterpart on the modalities for settlement of the outstanding N33.8bn owed by the Volta River Authority (VRA) on gas supplied for power generation by a Nigerian company, N-Gaz.
A statement released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Tuesday explained that under the terms of the agreement, the total sum of gas supply debt will be cleared on or before February 2016.
The statement signed by the NNPC Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division, Ohi Alegbe revealed that the deal struck on Monday between a team led by the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, and the President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, stipulated that VRA will pay the balance of August and September invoices by October 31 at the latest.
“It was also agreed that all other supplies as from October will be paid for on or before due date while the backlog of arrears from 2012 will be defrayed by February 2016”, Alegbe explained.
It would be recalled that Nigeria had threatened to cut gas supply to Ghana by 70% over a $181 million debt that had accumulated over the years. Following the incident, the Ghanaian Minister of Power, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, led a delegation to Abuja last week to hold talks with the Nigerian authorities with a view to resolving the issue.
N-Gaz is a joint venture company owned by NNPC, Shell and Chevron that delivers gas through the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAGPCo) to Ghana.
By Olisemeka Obeche
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