Crisis rocks Benin DisCo as NERC upholds interim board

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has upheld the appointment of the interim board of Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC).

The former board and management of the DisCo were removed by NERC and the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) in July over Fidelity Bank debt, but the affected persons went to court to contest the action.

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However, NERC which is the regulator of the Nigerian power sector, two months after appointing the new board, insisted in a statement that the new team “comprising Messrs Henry Ajagbawa, K.C Akuma, Adeola Ijose, Charles Onwera, and Yomi Adeyemi, are the only directors of BEDC recognised by the Commission.”

NERC said the action of the previous management in contending the decision of the regulator on “the control of BEDC has been primarily unsettling for customers in Edo, Ekiti, Delta and Ondo states that are reasonably concerned about continuity of their service and other stakeholders that are concerned about BEDC’s ability to meet its obligations to the market.”

It, therefore, urged the public to only support the interim board of directors stating that, “the required support to the interim board of directors as they work on ensuring continuity of service to end-use customers in the BEDC network area.”

NERC stated that the clarification became necessary after a party led by Mr. Lucky Ayomoto, purportedly acting on behalf of the erstwhile board/management of BEDC, dismissed the Henry Ajagbawa led management duly recognised by NERC.

BEDC is one of the 11 DisCos privatised between 2013 and 2014, with its 60 per cent equity sold to Vigeo Power Ltd while 40% is retained by BPE on behalf of the federal and state governments.

Vigeo took a loan from Fidelity Bank Ltd for the acquisition and the bank took over the shares as security for the acquisition loan.