The constitution of the board, which was jointly brokered by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), marked the end of a long drawn battle between the telco and a consortium of 13 local lenders over breach of repayment terms of $1.2billion loan raised for the telco about five years ago.

Also appointed Managing Director/CEO of the telco is Mr. Boye Olusanya, a former Deputy Chief Executive Officer and subsequently Acting Chief Executive Officer, Econet Wireless. When the telco metamorphosed to Celtel Nigeria Limited, Boye assumed the role of Deputy Chief Executive Officer and led the business strategy initiative for data services as well as key strategic operational changes in the business.

Boye who replaces Mathew Wilshere, has handled high level responsibilities at Dangote Industries Limited where he served as Chief Business Transformation Officer responsible for management of all enterprise-wide projects in the Group. He was also MD at Dancom Technologies Limited with responsibility for managing all the telecom assets and the IT infrastructure. He oversaw the sale of the 3G subsidiary as well as managed the rollout of the fibre backbone network covering 4400km across the country.

NewswatchNigeria however gathered that Wilshere will still stay around to contribute his wealth of experience to the stability of the telco. He is expected to be around till December this year when his contract with the telco would have elapsed.

Appointed Executive Director, Finance, is Mrs. Funke Ighodaro. A former Chief Financial Officer of Tiger Brands Limited, she also held the position of Chief Financial Officer of Primedia (Pty) Ltd, and was Managing Director of a private equity firm, Kagiso Ventures Limited and Executive Director of its parent company, Kagiso Trust Investment Company.

Funke who takes over from Mr. Olawole Obasunloye, also worked in the corporate finance division of Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank. She trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in London, where she spent a total of 10 years in audit and tax. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

The National Senior Partner, KPMG Professional Services, Nigeria, Mr. Oluseyi Bickersteth, was appointed as Non-Executive Director of the board. In his capacity at KPMG, he oversaw KPMG West Africa Region and is a member of the Global Board and has provided advisory services to major companies in varied industries, including oil and gas, financial services, telecommunications, manufacturing, commercial, public sector and not for profit organisations.

He has been extensively involved in privatisation activities and has provided tax and business advice to several local and international companies on privatisation, business organisation, entity restructuring and business regulatory issues.

Seyi was a member of the Trade and Investment Committee of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce; was a director of the Nigerian-South African Chamber of Commerce and currently a Director of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group. He was also involved in Vision 2010, which prepared a memorandum on the vision for Nigeria by year 2010. He chaired a working group on “Nigerian Tax Reforms 2003 & Beyond” for the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Another Non-Executive Director of the board is Mr. Ken Igbokwe who joined Price Waterhouse in London in 1978 and moved to PwC Nigeria in 1988. He became the Country Business Executive Leader of PwC Nigeria and West Africa and was a member of the PwC Africa Executive Committee.