By Olusegun Elijah
WorldStage– Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, one of Nigeria’s leading financial services groups,announced May 26 the appointment of Ernst & Young Nigeria (EYN), the external auditor whose immediate past client, the Nigeria Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO), Nigeria’s leading aviation ground handling and cargo company, appointed PwC after it resigned from the financial group last week.
“That Messrs Ernst & Young Nigeria be and are hereby appointed as the company’s external auditor until the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting…,” a statement of AGM resolutions published on the Nigerian Exchange disclosed.
It just happened that NAHCO, which houses a Stanbic IBTC Bank Ltd branch on its premises at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, also has the leading retail bank as one of its creditors.
Their two auditors, according to disclosures on the Exchange, had different reasons for leaving: PwC said it was retiring, after five years; EYN completed its 10 years corporate governance code permits.
While auditing NAHCO, EYN had been providing advisory services other than auditing for Stanbic IBTC up till 2025. The new appointment places in familiar territory.
PwC won’t be entirely new to NAHCO, either.
Its client Stanbic IBTC gave the aviation handler a N5.2 billion medium-term loan with a 24 percent-26.5 percent interest annually in 2024. The loan tenure is three years, according to NAHCO’s audited financial statement for the year 2025.
The borrower also got a N2 billion over-draft from Guaranty Trust Bank.
Stanbic IBTC has directed its board of directors to fix the new auditor’s remuneration.
