The Bureau of Public Enterprises has appointed an interim management team for the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) which was recently taken over by the United Bank for Africa (UBA).
In a statement, the Bureau said the management team include; Bada Akinwumi, as managing director; Sani Usman, chief business officer; Babajide Ibironke, chief finance officer; Donald Etim, chief marketing officer; and Femi Zacchaeus, chief technical officer.
The statement noted that BPE’s action is in line with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) that had already approved the appointment of the interim management team for the power company, noting that the approval is pursuant to the proper review of your BPE’s nominees in the context of business continuity framework of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.
The NERC and BPE earlier sacked the former management team of the AEDC and approved the appointment of an interim team to manage the power distribution company following legal processes arising from the failure of the core investor to meet its obligations to the lender (UBA).
The statement said there had been an ongoing dispute among competing factions of the AEDC’s majority shareholder and core investor (KANN Utility Company Limited).
According to the statement, UBA has acted as mandated lead arranger by underwriting the entire facility of $122m (about N20bn) for the company that acquired the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company.
“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 statement read.
According to the statement AEDC’s insolvency culminated in the industrial action by members of the Nigerian Union of Electricity Employees which led to total service disruption for over 14 hours in AEDC’s network area on December 6, 2021.
“The restoration 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 the industrial action.” The statement read.
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