Adedapo AdesanyaBy Adedapo Adesanya
The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has named members of the interim management team for the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) as part of plans to quell the recent scandal that hit the company.
A statement issued on Thursday outlined the interim management team to include Bada Akinwumi as managing director; Sani Usman as the chief business officer; Babajide Ibironke as the chief finance officer; Donald Etim as the chief marketing officer; and Femi Zacchaeus as the chief technical officer.
The Abuja DisCo was recently taken over by the United Bank for Africa (UBA) following the failure of the majority owners, the KANN Consortium, to service their debt and led to the sacking of the management team.
In approving the appointment of the new interim management for the AEDC, the BPE quoted the Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Mr Sanusi Garba, as saying that, “It (the approval) is pursuant to the earlier fit and proper review of your (BPE’s) pool of nominees and in the context of business continuity framework of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.”
The federal government had on Tuesday described members of the sacked team as a disgrace to the country following the inability to meet up with its obligations.
The NERC and BPE had said there had been an ongoing dispute among competing factions of the AEDC’s majority shareholder/core investor known as KANN Utility Company Limited).
They stated that UBA had acted as mandated lead arranger, underwriting the entire facility of $122 million, about N20 billion, then for KANN Utilities’ acquisition of the firm.
“During the course of the intractable crisis, the AEDC not only struggled to meet its obligations to the market under the terms and conditions of its licence but was also unable to meet its obligations to key stakeholders in the organisation including staff,” the government agencies stated.
This, according to them, culminated in the industrial action by members of the Nigerian Union of Electricity Employees that resulted in a total service disruption on December 6, 2021, for over 14 hours in AEDC’s network area.
They explained that the provision of electricity supply in AEDC’s network area was only restored after the intervention of the Minister of Power, NERC and BPE following an agreement with the union on the terms for the suspension of industrial action.
