BPE April 9, 2018

Status of refund to the former core investor in the Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC)

It would be recalled that in the last few weeks, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has been inundated with enquiries by reporters from the print and electronic media on the status of refund to the former core investor in the Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) – Integrated Energy and Distribution Marketing Company (IEDM).

Consequently, we would like to clarify as follows:

1. That the Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) privatisation was successfully concluded and the company handed over on November 1, 2013 to the core investor- Integrated Energy and Distribution Marketing Company (IEDM.

2. That the core investor declared force majeure in 2015 due to the insecurity in the North-Eastern region of Nigeria. This led to the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) to re-posses the company. The Bureau of Public enterprises (BPE) made provision for the refund of the acquisition fund (US $80.68million) paid by the core investor.

3. That following firm instructions by the Federal Government for all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to transfer all available funds in their various commercial bank accounts to the Single Treasury Accounts (TSA); the amount of money set aside by the Bureau for refund to the core investor was transferred to the TSA.

4. That the BPE has made a presentation to the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) on the refund of the US$80.68million to the former core investor in Yola Disco; and

5. That the Federal Government of Nigeria is working on refunding the money to the core investor.

Amina Tukur Othman
Head, Public Communication
April 9, 2018