CEM REPORT | Banks have moved to take over 5 electricity distribution companies (DisCos) across the country.
Meanwhile the Federal Government has announced the restructuring of affected DisCos.
This is according to a statement jointly signed by the Executive Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Sanusi Garba, and the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Alex Okoh.
According to the statement BPE upon receiving of approval from NERC, has appointed Kingsley Achife as interim Managing Director of the Ibadan DisCo which has been taken-over by AMCON.
The BPE also said it has also been granted approval to restructure the management and board of Port Harcourt DisCo to forestall the imminent solvency of the entity adding that Iboroma Akpana will take over as the Chairman of the Board
Furthermore, Benson Uwheru will take over as the Managing Director of PHEDC, while the DG of BPE alongside, Emmanuel Okotete, Eyo Ekpo and Ismaila Shuaibu will form the interim Board.
Recently, Fidelity Bank initiated the action to exercise rights on the shares of Kano, Benin and Kaduna DisCos.
The bank has hence named Hasan Tukur as Chairman, with members to include; Nelson Ahaneku and Engr. Rabiu Suleiman, as the new board of Kano Disco.
While, KC Akuma will be Chairman of the Benin DISCO board, with Adeola Ijose, Charles Onwera as members.
Also for the Kaduna DISCO, Abbas Jega will chair the board with Ameenu Abubakar, Marlene Ngoyi as members.
Meanwhile the BPE nominated Bashir Gwandu (Kano), Yomi Adeyemi (Benin), and Umar Abdullahi (Kaduna) as independent Directors to represent Federal Government’s 40% interest in the 3 DISCOs respectively, during this transition.
Also, NERC and BPE met to activate the Business Continuity Process and have appointed Ahmad Dangana, Henry Ajagbawa and Yusuf Usman Yahaya as interim Managing Directors of Kano DisCo, Benin DisCo and Kaduna DisCo respectively.
In the statement NERC and BPE noted its engagement with the Central Bank of Nigeria to ensure an orderly transition and also ensure that Fidelity Bank does not hold the Kano, Benin, and Kaduna DISCOs’ shares in perpetuity.
‘’It is envisaged that the majority interest in the entities would be sold to capable private sector investors willing and able to re-capitalize and manage the entities efficiently.
‘’We have also received assurances that Fidelity Bank will participate fully in all the ongoing market initiatives aimed at improving the sector (e.g. National Mass Metering Program).’’
The NERC and BPE also added that they are working in collaboration with the Ministry of Power to ensure no service disruptions during these transitions and remain committed to supporting the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry to serve Nigerians better.
