Ajaokuta Steel, Host Community Face Looming Blackout Over N5.46bn Unpaid Electricity Debt

In a development that lays bare the compounding fiscal stress across Nigeria’s strategic state assets, the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited (ASCL) alongside its vibrant host community in Kogi State now faces imminent disconnection from the national electrical grid over an unpaid liability totaling N5.46 billion.

According to regulatory disclosures issued by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the monumental debt has accumulated over an extended period of unserviced energy consumption, posing a direct threat to the financial equilibrium of upstream market operators. Regulators have maintained that persistent payment defaults undermine the stability of the entire Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).

The impending disconnection order affects not only the moribund steel complex itself, but also adjacent residential quarters, light commercial hubs, and ancillary civic facilities whose energy supply remains historically intertwined with the plant’s dedicated transmission feeders.

Officials familiar with market oversight noted that despite multiple payment reconciliations and grace periods extended to the steel management authorities, concrete fiscal commitments have failed to materialize, compelling regulatory authorities to initiate formal disconnection protocols.