The Federal Government has been subsidising electricity supply across the country to the tune of over N50bn monthly, the Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, has said.

He said the subsidy spendings were because the government was worried by the incessant complaints by ordinary Nigerians over the unavoidable and periodic increase in the cost of electricity.

Mamman said the funds were provided to augment the shortfall by the power distribution companies who had failed to defray the cost of bulk electricity supplied to them by the generating companies.

He, however, noted that following a minor increase in the tariff regime, the subsidy had now decreased by half, but still constituted a serious drain on the nation’s economy.

The minister disclosed this while receiving in his office members of the Hausa Guild of Actors and Film Producers, otherwise known as Kannywood.

Mamman, in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by his aide, Aaron Artimas, expressed concern over the failure by the distribution companies to stabilise their operations and meet their financial obligations to other players in the sector.

He said it was in response to this unfortunate development that the Federal Government had been forced to partly subsidise the sector so as not to price the cost of electricity out of the reach of the common man.