January 09, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has dissolved the Board of Directors of Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KAEDC).
The Commission, in a statement jointly signed by its Chairman, Sanusi Garba and Vice Chairman, Musiliu Oseni, said the dissolution followed KAEDC’s inability to pay N110 billion debt owed to the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).
Managing Director of the company, Yusuf Yahaya, on Saturday, announced his resignation from the company.
THEWILL recalls that KAEDC is among the five Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) that were taken over by their funders.
NERC said that the company owed the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) and Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN’s) Market Operator (MO) N110 billion from 2015 till date.
It added that the receivership, headed by AfreximBank, had been given 60 days’ notice to state why its licence should not be revoked after the initial 30 days given in July 2023.
NERC further explained that the bank requested for four to six months to finalise the divestment process, adding that the company could not provide the bank guarantees required to secure KAEDC’s market obligation
It said failure of the company to get new owners to enable it meet up with its financial obligations will cause the directors their job.
“All directors of KAEDC are hereby removed from office and the board of directors stands dissolved in the exercise of powers vested in the Commission by Section 75 of the Electricity Act (EA).
”To this effect, Mr Umar Hashidu is hereby appointed as the administrator of KAEDC in furtherance of section 75 of the EA.
“The administrator shall be the de facto Chief Executive Officer of KAEDC and shall be responsible for the management of the day- to-day affairs of the utility, pending the finalisation of the sale of the undertaking to a new core investor,” the statement added.
The Commission said the administrator shall work with a team of special directors that would constitute non-executive directors of the board for governance purposes.
It listed those appointed as special directors for KAEDC to include Mr Alex Okoh, Chairman; Kabir Adamu, Sharfuddeen Mahmoud, John Ayodele and Rahila Thomas,
The Commission said that the executive management team shall work with the administrator that would be constituted by NERC and announced in due course.
“The Commission shall administer the sale of the undertaking in accordance with the provisions of the EA on the basis of the highest and best price offered for the undertaking,” it added.
