President John Mahama has explained that the $103 million debt owed the Nigeria Gas company by Ghana has existed since 2012.

According to him, Ghana began piling up the debt after a ship broke part of the pipelines that carry gas from Nigeria to Ghana through the West Africa Pipeline Company (WAPCo).

Ghana, last week, had to race against time to settle parts of the debt owed the Nigerian company after the West African neighbour threatened to cut supply of gas to WAPCo.

Sources in Nigeria say Ghanaian authorities have so far paid $10 million out of the total debt but have been given a stringent timeline to offset the debt by the Nigerian government.

Commenting on the development, Mahama said Ghanaians must understand the circumstances that created the financial impasse.

“The debt dates back to 2012. We started incurring the debt when a ship broke one of the pipelines that supplied the gas from Nigeria so the VRA had to purchase crude to power the machines for almost a year, and that affected their balance sheet a lot.

“So when the pipe was fixed and the gas started flowing, it had already frustrated the accounts of the VRA but currently, there is a plan in place to pay the debt and already, July and August have been sorted out,” the President told Kumasi-based Garden City Radio.