The Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has announced plans to sell the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) to capable investors.
According to AMCON’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Gbenga Alade, during an interactive session with media executives in Lagos on Monday, one of the key sectors under review by AMCON is the power sector, with IBEDC being a major focus.
He revealed that although efforts have been made to resolve the challenges facing the IBEDC, the process is still ongoing and has not yet reached a conclusion.
Alade disclosed that AMCON intends to sell IBEDC to investors with substantial financial capacity to ensure the company receives the necessary investment for improved efficiency.
“In the power sector, we have Ibadan DisCo, which is under AMCON. We’ve tried as much as possible to get that resolved. And we’re in the process. We are yet to conclude the sale, but we are making very good headway in resolving Ibadan DisCo,” Alade stated.
He said he is optimistic about IBEDC’s potential profitability, noting that it serves multiple states, including the industrial areas of Ogun State, which makes it a valuable asset.
“I believe that Ibadan Disco is the largest disco that we have because it goes across so many states like Ogun, including all the industrial areas of Ogun State. We believe that it can be made more efficient if sold to people with deep pockets who can invest, not people who just buy and not invest; they don’t have money to invest.”
This comes on the heels of the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu ordering the sale of DisCos that had been taken over by banks and AMCON from their original investors due to financial difficulties in April.
Currently, four DisCos, including IBEDC, are under the management of banks and AMCON.
The others are the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, managed by the United Bank of Africa, and the Benin, Kaduna, and Kano DisCos, managed by Fidelity Bank.
AMCON took control of IBEDC on January 22, following a court judgement in September 2021 that granted preservative orders in favour of the corporation, appointing it as the receiver/manager of Integrated Energy Distribution and Marketing Limited, which previously managed IBEDC.
