The crisis rocking the board of the Kano Electricity Company (KEDCO) Plc over allegations of poor corporate governance by the majority shareholder, Sahelian Energy, has degenerated with the board of the minority shareholder chaired by Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, Incar Power Ltd, inviting the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to promptly intervene and save the company from imminent collapse.
Incar’s company secretary, Mr Haruna Shuaibu Usman, confirmed to LEADERSHIP yesterday that Incar’s board was piqued that KEDCO was being run “as a one-man show without due process or corporate governance considerations.”
Usman listed the many corporate governance infractions by the majority shareholder to include taking far-reaching decisions without consulting representatives of Incar on the board of the KEDCO, and refusal to regularly convene board meetings or form board committees for the proper functioning of the company.
The company secretary further accused directors representing Sahelian Energy of treating its two representatives on the KEDCO board with disdain.
“Since the handing over of KEDCO to the Sahelian Group by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) over one year ago, the board of the company has met about three times, but no tangible matters were discussed. Besides, processes and procedures necessary for running the company (as a public company) were not put in place.
“We hope that your commission will take steps and redress the glaring irregularities being perpetrated in the company to ensure that our rights are safeguarded and the aims and objectives of the Federal Government of Nigeria in privatising public companies are achieved for the benefit of Nigeria and its people,” the petition concluded.
In a telephone interview, KEDCO’s managing director, Alhaji Jamilu Gwamna, told LEADERSHIP that the regulator was already mediating in the matter and that it was, therefore, not necessary to speak to the press on the matter.
