VOLUME 05 ISSUE 07 July 2026
Godwin Orakpowenri Orovwiroro, PhD, DBA, FIMC, CGEIT
University of Port Harcourt Business School, University of Port Harcourt
DOI : https://doi.org/10.58806/ijsshmr.2026.v5i7n22Google Scholar Download Pdf
ABSTRACT
Since the November 2013 privatisation of Nigeria's power sector, the eleven electricity distribution companies (DisCos) carried forward from the original handover have experienced a persistently high rate of chief executive officer (CEO) change, frequently driven by shareholder disputes, political interference, and unresolved liquidity pressures rather than by planned succession. This study examines the “revolving-door” CEO phenomenon in eleven Nigerian DisCos between 2013 and 2025 and its consequences for strategic continuity, reform implementation, and institutional memory. Using a mixed-methods, ex post facto design, the study operationalises four independent variables — CEO tenure length and turnover frequency, basis of CEO appointment, strategic plan continuity across transitions, and management team stability below CEO level — against three dependent variables: strategic initiative completion rate, organisational performance trend, and staff morale/turnover. The study register identifies 61 substantive MD/CEO appointments, comprising 50 leadership transitions, across the eleven DisCos, yielding a sector mean CEO tenure of approximately 2.35 years —but far more unevenly distributed. Port Harcourt (PHEDC) and Jos (JEDC) each recorded eight leadership transitions in the study period — the most volatile franchises in the sector,— while Kano (KEDCO), Kaduna (KAEDCO), and Ikeja (IKEDC) sustained single chief executives for seven to nine years before more recent turnover. Shareholder- and politically-driven appointments (44.0% of transitions) were associated with markedly shorter subsequent tenure (0.7 years) than merit-based appointments (38.0% of transitions; 4.5 years). The study concludes that leadership discontinuity remains a structural, not merely managerial, constraint on Nigeria's power sector reform trajectory, and that governance interventions must be calibrated to the markedly uneven distribution of turnover risk across DisCos rather than treated as a uniform sector-wide condition.
KEYWORDS:CEO turnover; strategic continuity; Nigerian DisCos; electricity distribution; institutional memory; corporate governance; power sector reform; upper echelons theory
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Cite this Article: Orovwiroro, G. O. (2026). Leadership Turnover and Strategic Continuity: The 'Revolving-Door' CEO Phenomenon in Nigerian Electricity Distribution Companies (2013–2025). INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE HUMANITY & MANAGEMENT RESEARCHS, 5(7), 2032-2041. https://doi.org/10.58806/ijsshmr.2026.v5i7n22