9Mobile: Reps summon members of defunct board over loan

A House of Representatives panel yesterday summoned members of the board of the defunct Etisalat Nigeria over the mismanagement of about N500 billion obtained from commercial banks.

The committee said during a hearing with some stakeholders in the telecommunications industry that it was apparent that the former board “grossly mismanaged” the amount and could not pay back.

The chairman of the committee, Rep Saheed Akinade Fijabi (APC, Oyo) said those invited are the chairman of the defunct board, Hakeem Bello Osagie, and other directors, which included Serkan Okandan, Mounir Barakat, Mohammed Suraj, Sinisa Papp, Muhannad Sudki Al-Kada and Hatern Dawidar. They are to appear next Tuesday.

Speaking on behalf of the 13 commercial banks gave out the loan, the head of corporate affairs of GTB, Lara Ogunlaja, said due to consistent losses Etisalat recorded over the years, the banks offered to restructure the loan but that the board rejected it.

“Due to gross mismanagement, the company began to experience serious financial difficulties from 2015, exacerbated by the downturn in the Nigerian economy as well as the devaluation of the naira,” she said.

“These developments eventually rendered the company unable to meet its debt obligations to the lenders, who were willing to restructure the debt,” she added.

Following the revelation, the panel asked her to name the members of the board of Etisalat, who rejected the offer, which she mentioned based on documents she said were obtained from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

Consequently, the panel resolved to conduct fresh investigation into the matter starting by summoning the former board.