- UBA officials dominate
In December, 2021, the new board and management members of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) were named to steer the operations of the company after a prolonged investors’ crisis.
Although the core investors, KANN Consortium, challenged the takeover of the company by the new management in court, the board and interim management have since assumed duty.
KANN acquired the Distribution Company (DisCo) in 2013 and was at loggerheads with the United Bank for Africa (UBA) over the full repayment of the acquisition loan. This led to a crisis in the company that resulted in a protest by its workers in November, 2021, for the arrears of their entitlements.
Following the intervention of the Minister of Power and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the issue was resolved as UBA took over key board and management positions to enable it manage the firm until it recoups its loan.
Daily Trust on Sunday reports that the new board was inaugurated shortly after the management was constituted. Here are the things you need to know about the board and management members so far.
Starting with the new board of AEDC, five persons were announced as members and headed by a UBA key official, Victor Osadolor.
Victor Osadolor
The new AEDC Board Chairman, Victor Osadolor, replaces the erstwhile chairman, Ambassador Shehu Malami of KANN Consortium. Osadolor is a top official of UBA.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he has been the Chairman of UBA Pensions since September, 2015; Director UBA Capital, Europe; and a non-executive director of African Finance Corporation (AFC) since December, 2016. Osadolor is the Deputy Group Managing Director of UBA since June, 2016, but his profile on the AEDC website reads that he retired from active service in 2020 from that role.
The chartered accountant and experienced director with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry has pursued a career in the capital market, credit risk, financial risk, banking and finance. He is a strong professional with an AMP from the Harvard Business School.
Osadolor, who assumed duty at the company over a month ago, addressed the staff of AEDC.
He told them, “I want to assure you that the new Board of Directors (BOD) is committed to the well-being of our employees. May I please request that all employees and stakeholders remain steadfast and support the interim management as they embark on the transformation of the business for our collective benefit.”
Sam Adikamkwu
Mr Adikamkwu is a former Chief Legal Adviser at UBA. According to his LinkedIn profile, Adikamkwu had been the General Counsel to UBA for over 15 years; starting from 2007. In all, he spent 25 years with the UBA Group as he joined it in 1997.
His AEDC profile reads that he retired from the bank’s services in 2019 and is into full time legal practice.
Muyiwa Akinyemi
He is an accountant and currently a Group Executive at UBA, read a statement from UBA announcing the new board. On his LinkedIn profile, Mr Akinyemi is the Director, Wholesale Banking, and has been in the employ of the group for 24 years, since he joined in 1998.
Atiku Abubakar Tambuwal
Atiku Abubakar Tambuwal is a former official at the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). An expatriate firm, Manitoba Hydro International Nigeria Limited (MHINL) had headed the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) from June, 2012, to 2015, under a N4.2bn management contract during the power sector privatisation.
The contract was extended for one year up to 2016, and during that period, Tambuwal was the Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of TCN as it was said he was learning from the MHINL expatriates who headed the company and was being prepared to take over TCN management.
From June, 2016, when the expatriates left up to February, 2017 (seven months), Tambuwal was the acting MD of TCN. He was not picked for the MD job afterwards, but was compensated later as a member of the TCN board last year. However, that board was not inaugurated and failed to operate.
Alex Okoh
He is the Director General (DG) of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). Mr Okoh is on the AEDC board to represent the 40 per cent stake of the federal government in the DisCo. This is because the federal government only sold 60 per cent of the stakes in the 11 DisCos, including AEDC, to private investors since 2013, keeping 40 per cent to itself.
On the management level, there are five interim team members led by Mr Bada Akinwumi as interim MD. According to BPE which announced the appointment, the Chairman of NERC, Sanusi Garba, who approved the appointment of the new interim management for the AEDC, said, “It 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).”
Bada Akinwumi
Bada Akinwumi is the interim MD of AEDC, according to an announcement by BPE. He is a former MD of TCN. He was the Chief Consulting Partner and CEO of Szotyola Energy International Services before his appointment. Akinwumi holds an MSc in Telecommunications Engineering from the Technical University of Budapest, Hungary, where he also earned his first degree in 1981. He joined the defunct NEPA in Kaduna in 1984, and by 2011 he was appointed CEO of TCN.
Sani Usman
He was announced as the interim Chief Business Officer (CBO). His profile on AEDC website reads that he had a stint in the banking industry before moving into the core of the energy industry. He holds a masters in Energy Studies from the University of Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and Fellow of Chartered Institute of Taxation (CTI).
Babajide Ibironke
He is the interim Chief Finance Officer (CFO). Ibironke is a Global Council Member/Group CFO of Viathan Group with over 20 years of experience in academics, banking and non-banking financial institutions, healthcare, manufacturing, FMCG and energy sectors. He is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) – UK, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Institute of Directors of Nigeria (IoDN), among others.
Donald Etim
The interim Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of AEDC is a brand management, marketing and communications strategist with 26 years of experience across companies like MultiChoice Nigeria (DStv) and Samsung Electronics West Africa.
Oluwafemi Zaccheaus
He was appointed the interim Chief Technical Officer (CTO) and has a wide range of experience.
Nigerians, especially under the franchise area of AEDC comprising Kogi, Abuja, Nasarawa and Niger States, are expecting improvement in power supply services with the new management. Already, with their inauguration, the backlog of entitlements of salaries have been cleared.
The new Chairman of AEDC, in an internal memo dated December 23, 2021, briefed the staff and stakeholders on the clearing of the backlog payment to staff.
Osadolor said, “I am pleased to inform you that as of today, December 23, 2021, all long outstanding staff benefits that we met when we assumed office last week have been settled in full.
“Also, all taxes and pensions which were deducted and withheld for a period of more than 15 months have been remitted to the relevant authorities.”
There was also a backlog of debts owed to various vendors and contractors of the DisCo. In this regard, Osadolor said, “We are taking urgent steps to verify and settle all long outstanding obligations to all vendors before January 1, 2022.”
While the memo assured of prompt payment of salaries, the new management promised to reward exceptional staff “and payment for services rendered by vendors shall henceforth be settled promptly.” But it tasked the workers with raising their standard of service.
He further said, “To this end, I appeal that we raise our service standard to customers. Let our customers feel the change. Whatever we do, let’s do it with speed, courtesy and a high sense of ownership.”
