Abuja — In an effort to achieve 6000 megawatts of electricity in the country by December this year, the Federal Government has disbursed $4.6 billion for the financing of Niger Delta Power Projects, National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) and Mambila Power Projects, amongst others.

The Federal Government embarked on the resuscitation of the abandoned NIPP following the agreement it reached with the state governments to re-finance it.

The project, initiated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005, had been stalled following accusations of inflation of contracts.

Speaking to THISDAY in Abuja yesterday, a highly placed government official said the money under a Power Sector Special Intervention Fund (PSSIF) would create an enabling environment for the Federal Government to make the December deadline realisable.

He said the PSSIF is included in a total of about $9 billion that had been withdrawn from the excess crude savings account (ECA) and shared amongst the three tiers of government.

The $9 billion excess crude proceeds also include the $2 billion recently withdrawn to reflate and the $2.1 billion shared earlier in the year.

According to him, the fact that 11 states had not sent their approvals to the Federal Ministry of Finance to effect disbursement of their contributions for power projects, did not imply that their state Houses of Assembly had not ratified the decision which was jointly reached by all the states, forming membership of Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

The source argued that the states had actually secured approvals from their legislative arms, adding that bureaucracy of government might have delayed the receipt of such by the Ministry of Finance.

FAAC, a major part of which are the 36 states, had in June last year approved the withdrawal of $5.37 billion from the excess crude account to support the financing of power projects across the country in the yet-to-be declared emergency on power.

Each state was requested to secure approval from their state Houses of Assembly to transfer their contributions.

Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Remi Babalola, had at the monthly FAAC meeting Monday lamented that: "Our record reveals that eleven states have not forwarded the approvals of their States Houses of Assembly for the transfer of their contributions and that of their local Government Councils from the Excess Crude Savings Account to the Power Sector Special Intervention Fund. This is affecting the remittance of funds to the Steering Committee on Emergency Power.

"Members are advised to liaise with the Director, Home Finance to find out if their states are affected and expediently process the approvals of their State Houses of Assembly on the matter."