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Three Nigerian Banks set to take over Etisalat

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Etisalat Nigeria

etisalat     Despite the intervention of the Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC, to broker a peaceful resolution between Etisalat Nigeria and a consortium of banks, it appears the effort may not have yielded a truce, as the banks are set to take over the telecoms firm today (Wednesday), PREMIUM TIMES learnt.

The consortium of some foreign and Nigerian banks, including Guaranty Trust Bank, Access Bank and Zenith Bank, have been having a running battle with the mobile telephone operator over a loan facility totalling $1.72 billion (about N541.8 billion) obtained in 2015.
The loan, which involved a foreign-backed guaranty bond, was for Etisalat to finance a major network rehabilitation and expansion of its operational base in Nigeria.

However, following the failure of the company to meet its debt servicing schedule agreed since 2016, the three Nigerian banks, prodded by their foreign partners, reported Etisalat to banking sector regulator, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and its communications sector counterpart, the NCC.

Although Etisalat blamed its inability to fulfil its obligation to the banks on the current economic recession in Nigeria, the banks said their attempt to recover the loan by all means was fuelled by the pressure from the Asset Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON, demanding immediate cut down on the rate of their non-performing loans.

A senior official of one of the banks who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES late on Tuesday said one of the options they have proposed to Etisalat management as a middle way out of the crisis was for it to request for a bankruptcy status.

The official, who requested that his name should not be revealed, since he was not authorised to speak on behalf of the consortium, said the bankruptcy option would require having receivership management appointed by the banks to oversee its operations.
But, the NCC appears not to be favourably disposed to the takeover proposal, the source said, as it believes Etisalat was not only a viable going concern, but also willing and able to negotiate its loan servicing.

However, atop source at the NCC said late Tuesday that the commission had approved the takeover, which is expected to occur today.
Etisalat is Nigeria’s fourth largest telecoms operator, with about 21 million subscribers as at January 2017, according to the NCC. It commenced business in Nigeria in 2009.

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Crisis hits Eko Disco as chairman and directors disagree on Dr. Tinuade Sanda’s sacking

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Members of the board of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company are at loggerheads over the sack of the company’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tinuade Sanda.

We reported that the firm replaced Sanda with Mrs Rekhiat Momoh, who was said to have taken over on Tuesday.

It was gathered that Sanda’s sack was communicated through a letter signed by the EKEDC Chairman, Dere Otubu, on March 25.

According to Otubu, the decision to relieve Sanda of her duties followed a directive from the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission.

“We have received a directive from NERC stating that all staff working for the utility must be employed directly by the utility, bound by applicable service conditions that are applicable to the employees of the utility, and paid through the utility’s payroll.

“The Disco is obligated to comply with these directives due to the powers of NERC as stipulated in the Electricity Act 2023. In compliance with the aforementioned directive, all seconded staff from WPG Ltd are being released by Eko Electricity Distribution Plc and returned to WPG Ltd.

“Accordingly, you are hereby relieved of your role, office, and position at Eko Electricity Distribution Plc effectively immediately, and returned to your employer, WPG Ltd,” Otubu had said.

We reported earlier that some senior staff members of the Eko DisCo were recently accused of ghost worker recruitment, fraud and negligence; a claim the firm said was unfounded.

Reacting to the allegation, NERC ordered thorough investigations, while directing that all existing WPG secondees be returned to their original employer.

While announcing the change of leadership, the DisCo said, “We wish to inform the general public that Mrs Rekhiat Momoh has on 26th March 2024 assumed the role of Acting CEO of Eko Disco.

“This follows the redeployment of our erstwhile MD/CEO Mrs Tinuade Sanda back to WPG Ltd, the core investor who seconded her to Eko Disco.

“We have great confidence in her ability to perform this role effectively and take the company to greater heights,” the EKEDC said.

However, in a rebuttal on Wednesday, a Director and Chairman of the Legal & Regulatory Committee, Mr Babor Egeregor, disagreed with the chairman over the sack of Sanda.

He said the NERC did not order the removal of any staff either seconded to or hired by EKEDC, except those connected to the alleged fraud and negligence.

“It has come to my notice that by a letter dated 26th of March 2024, the Chairman of EKEDC, Mr Dere Otubu, purportedly terminated the Contract of Employment of Dr Tinuade Sanda, the MD/CEO of EKEDC, allegedly in compliance with orders/directives issued by the NERC.

“The said order of the NERC, herein displayed, are unambiguous, incapable of, and unyielding to plural interpretations. There was nowhere in the order where NERC requested the removal of any staff either seconded to or hired by EKEDC, except those connected to the alleged fraud and negligence i.e., Wola Joseph Condotti, Sheri Adegbenro, and Aik Alenkhe,” he said.

According to Egregor, NERC’s directives were issued to compel the board of EKEDC, following picketing by the union and unrelenting staff protests, “to act appropriately in the face of the determined position of a majority of the board members to cover up the alleged use of ghost workers together with the alleged fraud and protect Wola Joseph Condotti, especially”.

“Mr Dere Otubu’s letter, therefore, was done in bad faith and in vengeful revenge against the MD/CEO for escalating the alleged fraud and issuing queries against one of his protégés, whom he has desperately sworn to protect by all means.

“Rather than comply with the orders of NERC, a recourse to subterfuge was hatched with the purported termination. There are no doubts about a deliberate agenda and unconcealed mischief to misread the orders of the NERC to malign Dr Sanda’s reputation for daring to escalate and issue queries to Wola Joseph Condotti for alleged fraud through the use of ghost workers for three years, and continuous payment of salaries to exited staff despite personally receiving their resignation letters,” Egregor stated.

He added that similar queries were issued to the Chief Audit and Compliance Officer, Sheri Adegbenro, and the Chief Human Resources Officers, Aik Alenkhe, “for their failure and gross negligence to audit and detect fraudulent payments on payroll for over three years”.

On the appointment of Momoh as the Acting MD/CEO, Egregor said, “The board of EKEDC, on which I sit, has neither met nor decided on the purported appointment of Mrs Rekiah Momoh as Acting MD/CEO, except Mr Otubu and his close circle of colleagues have transformed themselves into ‘the board’.

“I and all well-meaning members of the EKEDC board, I believe, should vehemently distance themselves from this contrivance.

“The board is not a one-man show, and matters are to be collectively deliberated on and approved by Board members. Mrs Momoh is the Chief Commercial Officer of EKEDC and remains so.”

Amid the allegations of fraud, the director took pride in saying that the EKEDC was known for due process and legality, adding that anything that would erode the commitment to due process and corporate governance would be resisted.

“Therefore, let it be known that Dr Tinuade Sanda remains the MD/CEO of Eko Electricity Distribution Company and has since her assumption of office as the MD/CEO, turned EKEDC around for good, with very great milestones and achievements which every sector player recognises.

“She made EKEDC the number one distribution company in Nigeria. The investors, board, and management of EKEDC believe firmly in her leadership and look forward to many more record-setting and breaking moments,” he submitted.

Contacted, the EKEDC spokesperson, Babatunde Lasaki, told our correspondent that Sanda was not sacked but only asked to step aside “until the realignment of the structural management process is completed”.

According to Lasaki, Momoh was appointed to avoid a vacuum.

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Business

FG directs banks to deduct 0.375% stamp duty charges on all loans

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The Federal Government has directed commercial banks in the country to henceforth deduct and remit 0.375% on all loans disbursed by them.

The deduction is to be made on the principal loan amount, according to a message sent to customers by banks.

This comes as the government expands the net on transactions covered by the stamp duty charges from regular bank transfers to foreign transactions and now loans.

Recall that banks were also in January this year directed to deduct stamp duty on old foreign transactions between January 2021 to December 2023 by January 31, 2024. Before that, the electronic money transfer levy was only applicable to accounts receiving electronic deposits of N10,000 and above or its equivalent.

In a message sent to their customers on Wednesday notifying them of the deduction, one of the banks wrote:

“Dear Valued Customer,

“We write to inform you that the Federal Government of Nigeria has directed that all banks remit stamp duty on all loans.

“In line with this directive, 0.375% on every principal loan amount disbursed will be debited and remitted to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“However, all existing approved loans remain unchanged and are to be fully repaid in line with the terms and conditions. We are committed to offering you exceptional service every step of the way.”

According to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Stamp Duty is an indirect tax in Nigeria governed by the Stamp Duties Act (SDA), CAP S8 LFN 2004 (as amended).

It is a tax charged for a stamp or seal applied on a written or electronic document which if executed, makes it a legal document and will be admissible in any court of law.

Last year, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, disclosed that the total revenue collected as stamp duty on behalf of the Federal Government in 6 years, between 2016 and 2022, stood at N370.686 billion.

The disclosure came amid allegations by a member of the House of Representatives, Muhammed Kazaure, who claimed that a humongous sum of N89 trillion collected as stamp duty had been allegedly stolen.

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With N50 difference, parallel/official exchange rates near convergence

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The naira, on Wednesday, appreciated at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market, gaining 6.25 percent to trade at N1,350 per dollar.

Currency traders in Lagos, also known as bureau de change operators (BDCs), quoted the buying rate of the greenback at N1,300 and the selling price at N1,350 — leaving a profit margin of N50.

At the official section of the FX market, the local currency appreciated by 5.97 percent to N1,300.43/$ on Wednesday — from N1,382.95 on March 26.

At the FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees official FX trading in Nigeria, the naira recorded a high of N1,460 and a low of N1,200.

With a N50 difference, the official and parallel market exchange rates are nearing convergence — a situation that (at a sustained full convergence) could dry up street market patronage in favour of the official side.

On March 26, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) raised the monetary policy rate (MPR) from 22.75 percent to 24.75 percent.

Speaking on the rationale behind the raise, Olayemi Cardoso, CBN governor, said the major objective of the apex bank is to manage inflation, but said the bank is not “unmindful of the impact that the interest rate increases are having”.

He said with the interest rate increases, the FX market “becomes a lot more lively” — a situation the CBN governor said is reducing the exchange rate and cost.

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Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.

She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others

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