Godwin Emefiele
Fresh facts have emerged detailing how the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, was used and dumped by some powerful persons in the Presidency.
Emefiele now a fugitive is facing stiff opposition and persecution from the same Presidency that he so loyally served before the death of former Chief of Staff (CoS) to President Buhari, Abba Kyari and Ismaila Isa Funtua who was a strong and prominent member of the Presidency cabal.
Under Kyari as CoS and Funtua as member of the Buhari kitchen cabinet, Emefiele was perceived as a very good, well-behaved Central Banker and was instrumental in saving thousands of jobs and huge loss of funds in investments when then beleaguered telecom company, Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services Limited, trading as Etisalat Nigeria, ran into financial storm.
Emefiele’s intervention coupled with the technical guidance of the telecom regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, helped to save Etisalat from total collapse.
Funtua and his son, Abubakar Isa Funtua, were able to buy off Etisalat and save jobs as well as preserve the over 21 million lines linked to the United Arab Emirates company.
However, since the death of both Kyari and Funtua, Emefiele was said to be having a rough swim with some Presidency officials who were not comfortable with his cozy relationship with the deceased duo.
Insider sources told Political Economist NG that some persons in the Presidency have turned the heat on Emefiele and are using President Buhari’s obvious indifference to critical issues of governance to hit back at the CBN Governor whom they accused of side-lining them in the days of Kyari and Funtua.
“They are now relying on the alleged stamp duty scandal to get at the man that used to be the good guy of the cabal. We are still waiting for the report on the probe of the stamp duty deal but what I can assure you is that Emefiele would face serious embarrassment when he returns to the country,” a source told our reporter.
Recall that Etisalat was once in the vortex of a major financial crisis with a consortium of Nigerian banks threatening to take over the company over unserviced debts.
But it took the masterstroke of the CBN Governor working behind the scene with relevant stakeholders to preserve the over 21 million lines of Etisalat, save thousands of direct and indirect jobs linked to the telecom company and ensure it was not forcefully taken over by a consortium of creditor banks.
Contrary to earlier media spin at that time which tended to indict some Nigerian public officials and corporates as architects of the misfortune that trailed Etisalat and its final buy-over by Teleology Group, new details of the behind-the-scene dealings showed how the CBN and the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, fought hard to ward off what would have led to the total eclipse of Etisalat.
International and local sources familiar with the story, said Nigerians have Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Emefiele and Prof. Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, the nation’s telecom regulator to thank for the stunt they pulled to still keep Eitisalat in business and save thousands of Nigerians from being shipped into the job market.
“Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was very clear in his directive to Emefiele to ensure that Etisalat does not go down. Emefiele in turn had to work with key stakeholders especially the NCC to ensure a seamless transition and a win-win acquisition of Etisalat by new prospective new investors,” a source said.
Etisalat was indebted to a syndicate of about 13 Banks in Nigeria to the tune of $1.2 billion (secured by shares of Etisalat) and could not meet its financial obligations to its creditors. Using the extant rate at that time, the total debt to the banks stood at N377 billion.
Further investigations have linked the financial crisis that rocked Etisalat to massive fraud and mismanagement of loans and incomes generated by Etisalat to Hakeem Belo-Osagie, then Chairman of Etisalat. Belo-Osagie was the notable Nigerian face of the telecom company and was reputed to have brought Mubadala Development Company, a subsidiary of United Arab Emirates Sovereign Wealth Fund, (major shareholders of Etisalat Nigeria) into the country.
Upon discovery of the poor corporate governance instituted by Belo-Osagie management and their inability to pay back the huge debts, Mubadala Development Company pulled out of the Etisalat deal in May 2017, leaving the Nigerian telecom giant at the mercy of its creditors.
Ibrahim Dikko, vice president for regulatory affairs at Etisalat Nigeria, explained in 2017 that Etisalat missed payments due to the economic downturn in Nigeria, a currency devaluation and dollar shortages on the country’s interbank market.
“We are in discussions with our bankers and have been for quite a while. They have not taken over the business and we are hoping that we can resolve the issue and find a way to renegotiate terms,” Dikko told Reuters back then.
Emirates Telecommunications Group (Etisalat) owns a 40 percent stake in its Nigerian affiliate, which accounted for around 3.7 percent of the group’s revenue in 2013. Etisalat Nigeria signed a $1.2 billion medium-term facility with 13 Nigerian banks in 2013, which it used to refinance an existing $650 million loan and fund a modernisation of its network.
Dikko said the business performed well last year and it was still in profit at the level of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, while loan repayments had been up to date “until recently”.
The banks, according to investigations, attempted to take over Etisalat Nigeria and place the company under receivership but for Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervention. An interim arrangement was put up in which the old board was dissolved, and an interim board set up.
Investigations revealed that it was while the interim board was still in place that the shares of 9Mobile were transferred and kept under trusteeship with United Capital Trustees Ltd. The syndicate Banks also appointed Barclays Africa now ABSA group to help them oversee the sale of Etisalat Nigeria shares to new investors.
During the sale process, five major companies were selected among fifteen. They include Airtel Nigeria, Smile Nigeria, Teleology Nigeria Ltd, Globacom, and Helios Investment Partners. Out of the five companies shortlisted Teleology Nigeria Ltd emerged as the preferred bidder while Smile Nigeria Ltd became the reserved bidder.
However, after one of the meetings in Abuja between Prof. Danbatta of NCC and the Central Bank Governor and his team, a decision was reached to intervene in the loan issue between Etisalat Nigeria and the consortium of commercial banks.
The meeting which held at the Central Bank Headquarters in Abuja was convened by the financial regulator at the instance of NCC, the telecom regulator, to further deliberate on how best to stave off the attempt by the banks to take over Etisalat. At the end of the meeting, the Central Bank of Nigeria agreed to invite Etisalat management and the banks to a meeting towards finding an amicable resolution.
CBN and NCC said they were worried about the fate of the over 21 million Etisalat subscribers and the wrong signals this may send to potential investors in the telecom industry.
Etisalat has since July, 2017 announced a change of name to 9Mobile and is being repositioned by its new owners to claw deeper into the Nigerian telecom market.
