- Engr. Sanusi Garba confirmed this development.
- The announcement follows Disco’s inability to pay for assets acquired in the 2013 privatisation exercise.
The federal government of Nigeria has announced the restructuring of three non-performing electricity distribution companies (DisCos) by Fidelity Bank over the power investors’ poor financial performance. This was disclosed in a joint statement on Tuesday by the Executive Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Sanusi Garba, and Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Alex Okoh.
The affected companies are Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO), Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), and Kaduna Electricity Distribution company. The three firms were considered technically incapacitated and financially insolvent after their inability to meet their loan obligations with Fidelity Bank Plc.
The NERC and BPE, in a statement issued yesterday, equally announced the removal of the managing directors of two of the three DisCos and their immediate replacements. The two agencies named Ahmad Dangana as the new Managing Director of Kano Disco; and Henry Ajagbawa for Benin Disco. They replaced Funke Osibodu, formerly of Benin Disco, and Dr Jamil I. Gwamna, Kano Disco. However, the Managing Director of Kaduna Disco, Yusuf Yahaya, was not affected by the development as he was re-appointed under this new takeover regime.
According to the statement jointly signed by Mr Sanusi Garba, and Mr Alex Okoh, the action became necessary as Fidelity Bank had informed the government that it had activated the call on the collateralised shares of the three companies and, “that they have initiated action to take over the boards of these DisCos and exercise their rights on the shares.”
This newest takeover brings the number of DisCos retrieved by the government to six, as Yola, Ibadan, and Abuja Discos had earlier lost their initial management to the government.
Also, in a statement, the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, through his Media Adviser, Isa Sanusi, disclosed that he had been briefed by NERC and the BPE on the matter. The minister confirmed that the DisCos could not repay loans taken from Fidelity Bank to acquire their asset during the 2013 privatisation, and the bank had activated its right to take over the firms.