NERC Dissolves Kaduna Disco Board Over N110bn Debt

The Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company’s board was dissolved by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on Monday following the Disco’s failure to settle a N110 billion debt owed to the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry.

The commission said that the board of the company had been disbanded in a regulatory order dated January 1, 2024, which was signed by NERC Chairman, Sanusi Garba and Vice Chairman Musiliu Oseni, respectively.

The Executive Chairman of NERC, Sanusi Garba, and the Director-General of BPE, Alex Okoh, both signed the order.

Industry insiders claimed that, Kaduna Disco had been having financial difficulties, leading to the NERC’s Monday announcement of the board’s dissolution.

Naija News recalls that the DisCo Managing Director, Yusuf Yahaya on Saturday announced his resignation from the company.

The power sector regulator stated in the order issued on Monday that Kaduna Disco owed N110 billion to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trade and the Market Operator of the Transmission Company of Nigeria between 2015 and the present.

It said the receivership, headed by Afrexim bank, had been given 60 days’ notice to state why its licence should not be cancelled with another 30 days given in July last year.

The commission detailed that the bank asked for four to six months to finalise the divestment process and that they could not provide the bank guarantees required to secure KAEDC’s market obligation.

The NERC  order partly read,  “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.”

The commission then appointed Umar Hashidu as the administrator of Kaduna Disco in furtherance to Section 75 of the Electricity Act.

The regulator in its order, said that, “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 administrator shall work with a team of special directors that shall constitute non-executive directors of the board for governance purposes. The following are hereby appointed as special directors for KAEDC; Alex A. Okoh, Chairman; Kabir Adamu, Sharfuddeen Mahmoud, John Ayodele and Rahila Thomas.”