Following the termination of its management agreement with the Nigerian arm which came Monday evening, the Chief executive of Abu Dhabi based Etisalat International; Hatem Dowidar has announced that Nigeria can only use the brand name for another three weeks before seizing the usage or phasing it out.
The main reason behind the total pull out stemmed from the fact that all UAE shareholders of the company have exited and left the board and management of the Nigerian brand.
The total disengagement came as a result of the deadlocks following all overtures so far made in the settlement of its $1.7 billion syndicated loan talks.
According to Dowidar, it has become needless for the brand name to remain in Nigeria hence the parent company has no further link after all the directors have exited.
Business Hilights recalls that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had made the most spirited intervention last week to save Etisalat Nigeria from collapse after talks with its lenders to renegotiate a $1.2 billion loan failed.
The effort made, lead to the appointment of critical top management staff including the new chairman, Dr. Joseph Nnanna, a former deputy governor of the apex bank to manage the company for about six months to pave way for a smooth transition thereafter.
The latest development however, casts serious doubts on the statement issued three weeks ago by the embattled firm, claiming that it had repaid 42 per cent of the loan.
Vice President, Regulatory & Corporate Affairs of Etisalat Nigeria, Ibrahim Dikko, had claimed three weeks ago that “As at today, we can categorically state that the outstanding loan sum to the consortium (of banks) stands at $227m and N113bn, a total of about $574m if the naira portion is converted to US Dollars. This in essence means almost half of the original loan of $1.2bn, has been repaid”.
“Etisalat continued to service the loan up until February 2017, when discussions with the banks regarding the repayment restructuring commenced,” Dikko stated.
Whereas Dowidar noted that discussions were ongoing with Etisalat Nigeria to provide technical support, industry observers are worried on how the Monday development will affect the network and its integrity as million of Nigerians are subscribed to the network.
However, a top official of the NCC confided on Business Hilight on Monday evening that “The Commission is on top of the new events and will continue to make sure that the network and subscribers are safe at all times”.
Though the Director, Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo could not be reached on Monday on phone, relying on his last statement on the matter, indications are clear that both the agency and the apex bank will continue to manage the crisis to a soft landing that will not hobble the over 20 million subscribers.
Besides, a dependable source in one of the 13 banks currently owed by the telecoms, hinted yesterday evening that there may be plans by the consortium to hurriedly set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to register a new name ahead of possible takeover in few months if no arrangements are made as soon as possible by the new management appointees to raise the debt within record time.
