Elumelu’s Transcorp consolidates hold as Abuja DisCo boss resigns
The MD/CEO of Transcorp Power, Christopher Ezeafulukwe has assumed the leadership position at troubled utility, Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).
This followed the resignation of its former Managing Director, Adeoye Fadeyibi and this signifies Transcorp’s push at consolidation.
Christopher Ezeafulukwe was an Executive Director of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria, where he was responsible for Business Development and Legal.
He has over 19 years of experience working as an executive-level professional, Christopher has extensive experience in business development and management, legal, transaction advisory and support services, as well as company secretarial and related practices.
Previously, a stress test revealed that only three DisCos were viable and Nasir El-Rufai wanted to head the new Energy ministry. According to him, he said that the ownership and management structure of at least six indebted electricity distribution companies (DisCos), including AEDC would change.
He said, “Ten years after privatisation, the government is in one way or the other subsidising electricity, the last time I checked, it was about N1.6 trillion in a privatised environment. This is unsustainable and unacceptable.
“But what do we do with the distribution companies, they have been privatised about five or six of them are under receivership because those that bought the companies borrowed from banks and have not been to pay the banks, so the banks have taken over five or six of them and the last time we did a stress test on the DisCos only about three of them out of eleven are doing well.”
In his role at the helms at AEDC, Fadebiyi, who previously was the MD of Eko DisCo, undertook the delicate process of helping the lenders transition from controlling shareholder of the bank holding AEDC’s acquisition debt to the buyer of that debt through Transcorp Holdings. Nigerian billionaire, Tony Elumelu chairman of Heirs Holdings is also the chairman of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria.
Following the inability of AEDC’s core investor KANN Utility Company to repay the $122million it took as loans to buy a 60 percent stake in the DisCo, the lenders, UBA, took over the KANN’s stake with the approval of, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the sector regulator, and the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) which holds the 40 per cent government stake in AEDC in 2021.
An interim management was appointed led by 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. A new team with Fadebiyi as MD was appointed in March 2022.
