The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems (NIBSS) spends at least N150 million every month on electricity, with diesel alone taking about N100 million, its managing director, Premier Oiwoh, has said.
Oiwoh disclosed this at the one-year anniversary of Tango Brook Technologies in Lagos last week.l, Nairametics reports
He said the company treats the spending as necessary because its systems and servers cannot afford to go down and electronic transfers must not be disrupted by power outages.
He was represented at the event by Innocent Osagiede, NIBSS Head of Operations and Finance/CFO Directorate.
Oiwoh said cost was not the main concern, as uptime came first.
Osagiede said NIBSS keeps a 22,000-litre diesel tank in front of its building, with a smaller day tank close to its generators. The day tank must not fall below 5,000 litres, and internal security personnel are responsible for checking the level and switching on the pump from the main tank when it reaches that mark.
He recalled an incident in which a security officer assumed the previous shift had already pumped diesel into the day tank. The generator went off and it took about three minutes to fix. He said the episode showed the challenge went beyond controlling diesel costs to keeping operations running.
NIBSS runs four generators, two of 800 KVA and two of 500 KVA. The organisation also uses fuel monitoring systems, which Osagiede said give visibility over generator fuel levels, reduce reliance on manual checks and allow refills before supplies run out. He added that the quality of diesel supplied to its facilities also matters, as poor fuel can affect generator performance.
NIBSS operates critical payment infrastructure used by banks and other financial institutions, including the Nigeria Central Switch, which handles interconnectivity and interoperability for retail electronic payments. It also provides payment and collection solutions such as NQR, and its platforms support bulk electronic payments for public and private organisations.
Osagiede said a prolonged power interruption could cause servers to begin shutting down, with a possible effect on transfers and other payment activities.
Executive director, Finance and Investments at Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Limited, Katherine Itua, said the insurer has sped up its shift to solar power to reduce its reliance on diesel.
She said the firm’s head office is not on the national grid and runs mainly on generators and a solar inverter system. Rising fuel costs over the past year prompted the company to accelerate the second phase of its solar inverter upgrade, she added, to reduce diesel dependence and make power costs more predictable.
Itua said the company budgeted diesel at about N2,000 per litre for 2026, against a current price of around N1,900, so it has been able to absorb the increase within its projections. She added that the firm is relying on disciplined budgeting and process automation to contain costs instead of passing the full burden to customers.
