Fidelity Bank has taken over the control of Benin, Kaduna, and Kano Distribution Companies (DisCos) due to payment defaults.
The bank has written to the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), which oversees the government’s 40% stake in the DisCos that it has replaced the board members of the affected DisCos.
The new board members for Kano DisCo are Hasan Tukur (Chairman), Nelson Ahaneku (Member), Rabiu Suleiman (Member); For Benin DisCo, the board members are KC Akuma (Chairman), Adeola Ijose (Member), and Charles Onwera (Member); while for Kaduna DisCo, the new appointments are: Abbas Jega (Chairman), Ameenu Abubakar (Member), Marlene Ngoyi (Member).
The BPE has nominated Bashir Gwandu (Kano), Yomi Adeyemi (Benin), and Umar Abdullahi (Kaduna) as independent Directors to represent Government’s 40 percent interest in the three DisCos respectively during this transition.
Recall that on Tuesday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said that it is no longer willing to continue to allow Nigerian banks to carry their huge non-performing loans associated with the funding of the privatisation of the power sector without having to provide for them.
The apex bank, which has supported the beleaguered electricity sector with both cash injection as well as forbearance, is now contemplating a change in the rules in light of the poor performance of at least five of the DisCos.
