Recession: 3 Nigerian banks Set to Take Over Etisalat over N541.8 billion Debt

Recession seems to be biting everything at its sight. Etisalat Nigeria appears to be the latest victim.

Three Nigerian banks are allegedly set to take over the management of one of the top-4 telecommunications company in the country, Etisalat NG, due to a debt of N541.8 billion incurred by the company.

According to reports, Etisalat had secured a loan facility estimated to be $1.72 billion (about N541.8 billion) in 2015 from an association of some foreign and Nigerian banks that includes Access Bank, 

Guaranty Trust Bank and Zenith Bank.

Etisalat Nigeria which started its operation in 2009, had obtained the loan to fund a major network rehabilitation and to expand its operational base within Nigeria.

Etisalat is using the current recession as an alibi for its failure to pay the loan. The banks affected by the predicament have dragged the telecommunication company before the two regulators involved, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, for banking sector and the Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC, for Telecommunication sector.

Etisalat has been admonished to request for a bankruptcy status in order to surrender the company to the banks.

NCC was said to have approved the takeover of the company which is to take place today.