BPE names Bada Akinwumi as interim MD for AEDC

The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has named members of the interim management team for the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) Plc.

Amina Tukur Othman, head of public communications at BPE, announced this in a statement on Thursday.

The interim management team includes Bada Akinwumi as interim managing director; Sani Usman as interim chief business Officer, Babajide Ibironke as interim chief finance officer; Donald Etim as interim chief marketing officer; and Femi Zacchaeus as an interim chief technical officer.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and BPE had approved the sack of the former management team of AEDC.

It also approved the appointment of an interim team to manage the power distribution company based on legal processes arising from the failure of the core investor to meet its obligations to a lender.

The agencies said the decision to fire the management of the AEDC was taken by United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc.

They explained that UBA had provided a loan of $122 million for KANN Utility Company Limited (KANN’s) acquisition of the AEDC.

Due to KANN’s inability to service its debt, UBA took over the board and management of AEDC.

“The action to appoint an interim team to manage AEDC was not done on the basis of a directive from the Federal Government as being falsely reported in the press but on the basis of legal processes arising from the failure of the core investor in AEDC to meet its obligations to a lender,” the BPE and NERC had explained in a statement issued on Wednesday.

“The Receiver/Manager has agreed to the appointment of an interim management team in conjunction with BPE as part of measures designed to address business failure events and ensure continuity of service to end-users in the service area.”

Othman further said the NERC, the regulator in the power sector, has approved the appointment of the interim management team for the power company.

She quoted Sanusi Garba, chairman of NERC, as saying 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 (NESI)”.