By Abdu Malik
… Stephane Beuvelet is Acting Managing Director
Finally, a new board of directors has been announced for 9Mobile, Nigeria’s fourth mobile operator by ranking. This is coming after a testy time as a result of the divestment from the company by Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates, which originally promoted the company at inception as Etisalat Nigeria.
The new board was announced November 12, 2018, by Teleology, its new promoter, and has one of the leading lights in Nigeria’s mobile industry, Mr. Adrian Wood, as a non-executive director. Wood led MTN Nigeria, the country’s leading mobile operator, as its second chief executive one year after the company commenced operations, for five years.
In a statement in Lagos signed by Mohammed Edewor, Teleology said it was pleased to announce the constitution of the new board of directors “following the successful completion of the tenure of the former board appointed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and in fulfilment of the consequential transfer of final ownership to the new investors, Teleology Nigeria Limited.”
The company thanked “all out-going members of the (former) board for helping to shepherd 9mobile through the critical transition phase it has passed since July 2017 and wish them the very best in their future assignments.”
The constitution of the new board follows the issuance of final approval of no objection by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to the effect that the technical and financial bids Teleology submitted for 9mobile met and satisfied all the regulatory requirements, the company added.
Members of the new board are Alhaji Nasiru Ado Bayero, who is chairman; Asega Aliga, Wood, Mohammed Edewor, Winston Ndubueze Udeh all non-executive directors. Others are Mallam Abdulrahman Ado, a former Executive Commissioner in charge of licensing and consumer affairs at the NCC who is an Executive Director and Stephane Beuvelet who was name Acting Managing Director of the mobile company. Beuvelet is not new to 9Mobile; he has been chief technical officer of the company since September 2013.
The new Chairman of the Board, Alhaji Nasiru Ado Bayero welcomed the appointment stating, “as we begin this new epochal phase, we wish to thank all the employees who built this viable business. Our debt of gratitude also goes to our subscribers even as we assure them to get ready for real best-in-class additional value for their relationship with the 9mobile brand.
“Without you, there could not have been a 9mobile business for us to invest in today. We will justify your confidence in our brand by making significant investments that will improve the value you get for using 9mobile.”
As a background, the CBN in collaboration with the NCC, had in July 2017 appointed the board chaired by Dr. Joseph Nnanna, a Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, to oversee the affairs of the company pending the completion of regulatory due diligence of the bid documents submitted by Teleology and 16 others for the acquisition of 9mobile.