Fidelity Bank takes over 3 Discos over multi-billion naira debt

Fidelity Bank Plc, has taken over control of Benin, Kano and Kaduna electricity distribution companies over their inability to repay multi-billion naira loans obtained to pay for assets acquired in 2013 privatisation exercise.

While Benin DisCo is owned by Mr. Victor Osibodu and his wife, Funke, a former managing director of Ecobank, Kano DisCo – Alhaji Tajudeen Aminu Dantata, Kaduna DisCo is owned by former Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) commissioner, Alhaji Yusuf Hamisu Abubakar.

The bank has written to the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), which oversees the government’s 40 percent stake in the DisCos, that it has replaced the board members of the affected DISCOs.

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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)

BPE has also 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.

On the Ibadan and Portharcourt DisCos, a statement jointly signed 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, explained that the announcement followed Fidelity Bank’s activation of the call on the collateralized shares of KEDCO, BEDC, and Kaduna Electric over their inability to repay loans obtained to pay for assets acquired in the 2013 privatisation exercise.

They added that the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) would be a placeholder board for IBEDC in a temporary capacity while the PHED undergoes restructuring to prevent its imminent insolvency.