BY ONYEKA AJUMOBI ONOCHIE
The Bureau of Public Enterprises has summoned a meeting of the shareholders of the nation’s Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs)in furtherance of the move of the Federal Government to increase its representation on the Boards of the electricity distribution companies.. The Bureau at the meeting which held on 26 June, 2019, reiterated the purpose of the reform and privatisation in the Nigerian power sector to address efficiency gaps and attract much needed private sector capital and management into the power sector, which reform was expected to transform the sector to meet the country’s electricity demand.
Part of the requirements for the aforementioned reform was the entrenchment of a Corporate Governance structure, which provided for the Core Investor to have 6 (six) “A” Directors and the Bureau 1(one) “B” Director. This was done to minimize the representation of the Federal Government on the Boards and to grant the Core Investors sufficient control of the management and operations of the DISCOs.
The Director General of BPE, Mr. Alex Okoh, who buttressed this point at the meeting, noted that the process has been on for a long while, stressing that the delay in implementation by the DISCOs was no longer acceptable to the FGN.
He said, “In view of the need to strengthen Corporate Governance of the companies, the FGN has decided to increase its representation on the Boards by two (B Directors) given its 40% shareholding and the objective is to ensure transparency in their operations as well as improve their performance.”
Subsequently, all parties agreed to the proposal as it is in good faith to strengthen Corporate Governance of the companies.
Thereafter, it was agreed that all the activities outlined during the discussions which would formalise the increase in the FGN’s representation on the Boards of the DISCOs would be concluded and implemented on or before the 15th of July 2019.