interesting column


By DELE SOBOWALE
The battle line is drawn and hardening with each passing day. The billion naira question is: Will Soludo survive the impending war as he did that of the banking consolidation? The answer is: may be —Dele Sobowale, Sunday Vanguard, August 19, 2007, p 7.

FORGIVE me for quoting myself but it is merely designed to remind our readers of the fears that were expressed immediately after the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN announced the new strategic alliance for the naira on Tuesday, August 14, 2007.

The governor received a standing ovation for another virtuoso performance from the audience except for a few. One of the few not standing and clapping was the “Duke”, Nduka Obaigbena, the publisher of Thisday, sitting very close to me. The Duke was not convinced by the governor.

I was also not standing. But, I was glued to my seat, despite the long cherished Yoruba custom of giving honour to whoever deserves it. Instead, I was immobilized because of an Area Boy’s instinctive feeling that a war had been declared by the governor without realizing it.

Blood would flow or heads would roll. Whose blood and whose heads? After the briefing, most of my media colleagues headed back to Lagos and Ibadan; so did I. But, I quickly repacked my bags and headed back north where I suspected a battle line was forming against Soludo.

Driving to Jos, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna and Lokoja at a pace that Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769-1821, would have envied, I proceeded to get in touch with friends from my ten years spent working and living in the north that I knew to be within the northern power structure or were close to it.

By Friday night, August 17, 2007, when I sought the services of a university cyber café to send my piece: New naira policy: will soludo survive this? I was certain that there was nobody of significance in the north who was not against the policy for one reason or another.

With the North solidly against, it would have required a totally unified south for Soludo to expect a drawn battle; no victor and no vanquished. Unfortunately, I also knew that even the south was strongly divided on this issue. The conclusion from all this was obvious: Soludo was headed for a defeat which might even go beyond the reversal of the policy but which might threaten his job as well.

The events of the last two weeks have confirmed my worst fears. Professor Soludo had been forced to withdraw the policy; he has also been distanced from the Economic Management Team, EMT, while two of his subordinates have been included probably without his prior consent.

Calls for his resignation still rang out despite his public capitulation to superior forces. He wisely followed that age-long counsel of sages: “Accept gracefully what you cannot otherwise refuse.” But, is the war over? It is doubtful and the reasons are not too difficult to discover.

First, the nation now has “a wounded lion” who, as long as Soludo remains in office, poses a threat to those whose vested interests his policies would damage.

And as long as Soludo strongly believes in those policies his presence in the office leaves open the possibility that they might re-emerge again. Secondly, within the CBN, he has at his command enough incontestable constitutional powers to make some of his adversaries pay dearly for the humiliation he has suffered as a result of this public rebuke.

Thirdly, the tacit approval of those policies by the World Bank and other key Western financial players means he possesses an “external army” which could still be mobilized in support of his position. In the end, he might turn the victory into a defeat for his detractors.

While that is true of Soludo, it is also unlikely that Yar’Adua will move very soon to remove the CBN governor unless Soludo himself resigns especially after the capitulation.

The nation requires a certain measure of stability in its macro-economic policies and Soludo remains the last key player from the Obasanjo administration. Even, if the reforms are to be re-visited, as they should, the process needs to be gradual to ensure that the nation does not again enter the trap of frequent policy reversals.

For that reason,Yar’Adua needs Soludo still at the CBN and will probably keep him there despite the insistence of the “fire-eaters”of the north who want him to push the CBN governor out immediately.

Interestingly enough, this totally avoidable disaster was brought about by two factors which have received little attention, at least to the best of my knowledge.

The first was the Central Bank of Nigeria Act which was signed into law on May 25, 2007, four days before his departure, by former President Obasanjo. I know Baba Iyabo’s admirers will again ask us to leave him alone. But, when a leader departs office by leaving banana peels all over the place, he has “murdered sleep.”

The Act, which was hardly put through the rigours of public debate and scrutiny such as attended the Freedom of Information Bill, FIB, empowered the CBN governor to an extent unprecedented in our history.

Whether or not such enormous powers which might be justifiable, given Soludo’s previous track records, would be generally advisable, if others less talented as he came to the helm, was probably not considered at all. It is my belief that Obasanjo saw it as an instrument to protect his “reforms” and nothing more. But, in the end it has placed the CBN governor and any President in potential conflict.

The other element contributing to the tragedy was the quality of legal advice Soludo received. To the extent that Section 19 subsections 1 and 2 made it mandatory for the governor to seek the approval of the President before national currency is issued, then the governor was misled by his legal advisers who failed to draw his attention to those provisions of the Act.

There is little doubt in my mind that Soludo would not have acted as he did if the legal advisers have briefed him properly on the due process. Where do we go from here? I think Yar’Adua should be magnanimous and accept the governor’s apology; keep him in office and work with him for the sake of our country. Anything else will just prolong this unfortunate and needless controversy and distract everyone from the enormous tasks of nation building ahead of all of us – both in and out of government.

I am simply amazed at the reasoning of some people and its like we really have no hope for the future. These banks would have simply collapsed on their teeming depositors if SANUSI did not pump that 420 billion and even at that, its being speculated that more will have to be pumped in. SOLUDO tried the quiet approach of pumping 100 billion to INTERCONTINENTAL bank in march while retaining the same AKINGBOLA yet the situation still lingered if not worsened. SANUSI with all this knowledge decided to go for the jugular and it is working. Those big men who were shouting all over the pages of newspaper are all paying back something and tendering the requisite collateral.

OYB_MEND:

to debate Binna be like to debate dinning room table.

CBN dey work on more than 2 months old record

mistyped names of debtors

then no get list of performing and non performing loans right

some of the figures no correct.

Binna chill ok!!! Nigeria belong to we all. Why CBN no fit wait untill them conclude thorough audit and compilation of report?

wait to achieve what. Those that are already found guilty should be dealt with immediately, instead of wasting time and letting them  bring undue pressure on the process. The CBN has started with the most likely culprits and the result of the audit has shown so.
So if we had 24 suspected armed robber gangs, you would rather we wait to investigate all the gangs (let them keep operating), before prosecuting the 5 that we have already found evidence against?

@otox a copy might be in the paper tommorrow. the highest each bank got was 100 bill, in a bank with shareholders funds topping 400 bill . the parameters for the special exam hasnt been released. sanusi has even been quoted as saying in an interview with punch that non injection of such funds doesnt equate to their collapse.

just trying to play devils advocate


THE brazen decision of the Lamido Sanusi-led Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to sack the CEOs and Executive Directors of Oceanic Bank, Afribank, Intercontinental Bank, Union Bank and Finbank should be treated with the due suspicion that it deserves.

The present predicament of the banks was long in coming. The bitter, persistent complaints of alleged marginalisation of the ‘North’ by the Soludo consolidation policy by Northern politicians, journalists and traditional rulers during the Obasanjo administration, gave an inkling of what fate would befall the banks immediately this adminis-tration came into office.

And the ‘Northern’ saboteurs went into action as soon as Yar’Adua was sworn in. They first focused their attacks on Soludo and its main achievement, the consolidated banks, which were blamed for all manners of ills plaguing the country’s economy.

The African Finance Corporation, which was established by the Soludo CBN in partnership with Nigerian banks, was portrayed as a gigantic fraud. The Presidency even set up a special investigative panel which could only find Soludo culpable of alleged procedural mistakes in setting up the continental development financial institution.

Then came the accusations that the ex-CBN chief was not policing the banks properly and that he co-owned some of them.

Series of pressure was mounted on the Professor of Economics, making him to embark on a series of measures to pacify the powers that be. He gave back the operating licence of Société Générale and to achieve regional balance also Savannah.

Moreover, he even forgave the 70 billion naira debt of Unity Bank. But all to no avail. The North wanted that position at all costs. When the time came for the renewal of his term of office and against all rules of logic in view of his world-acclaimed achievements, Soludo was asked to go and Sanusi was swiftly named in his replacement.

The curious thing about the processes of appointment and Senate confirmation of Sanusi was the lack of controversy which should normally have characterised them because of the antecedents of the Fulani man.

Sanusi is an unabashedly  Fulani nationalist and he has made that clear in many articles he has written since 2000 and which were published in Nigerian newspapers and online, especially on gamji.com.

He has made disparaging remarks about Chief Obafemi Awolowo and even attacked Abacha and Babangida, non-Fulani former Northern heads of state.

He made sure his readers understood him well that he was foremost a Fulani — he even described the term Hausa-Fulani a nonsense nomenclature. In fact, the title of one his articles was “The Fulani without Apology”. Sanusi’s writings were so nauseating that Garba Shehu, the non-Fulani Northern rights activist, once described them as “racist crap”.

Aside from that, Sanusi at First Bank was rumoured to be actively engaged in the infamous de-marketing campaign, a charge that Intercontinental Bank made against him, in a veiled reference, in a newspaper advertisement early this year.

Doubts about the veracity of the widely-held suspicion were dispelled by the negative feature on Nigerian banks published by The Africa Report, in which Sanusi was the main source of information. He was also exclusively interviewed in the report.

That such an unabashed tribalist could be appointed into such a professional national office without any protests shows the political lethargy of the Southern elite.

And that must have emboldened the Fulani CBN chief that he made very negative remarks about Nigerian banks in the very first interview he granted the press upon his assumption of office. In the interview, with the West Africa correspondent of the Financial Times, he made it point blank that he would prefer new investors to come into the market, even expressing his preference for foreign players at the expense of those he referred to as anonymous Nigerian nominees.

That interview also failed to elicit condemnation despite its patent patriotism and its potentials to cause a confidence crisis in the capital market. No wonder that Sanusi felt so sure of the docility of his victims that he devised the so-called audit programme, carried it out in a rash and without even waiting for the completion of the exercise or informing the boards of the affected banks of its findings, he went ahead to change the managements of the banks.

Without doubt Sanusi’s actions are premeditated and are meant to change the ownership structure of the banks. Why the haste to take the decisions when the so-called CBN audit has not been conducted in all Nigerian banks?

Why did Sanusi not invite the boards of the banks to show them the results of the so-called audit and ask them how they think they could solve the problem; for example, giving them a deadline to recapitalise?

Why wield the axe so soon?

The practice all over the world is to first demand that the existing shareholders meet the capital adequacy. It is only where they are not able to raise the required capital that forced intervention by the regulators takes place.

These are indications that Sanusi is following a script.

The appointment of Southerners as acting MDs of the 5 banks is a smokescreen. When the smoke clears, Fulanis would have become the majority shareholders of most Nigerian banks. As Sanusi has said that he would invite investors to shore up the capital of these banks and take stake in them.

There is a grand conspiracy by the Yar’Adua administration to foster Fulani control over all facets of life in the country. What Sanusi has just done must be linked with what his people are doing in other sectors of the economy where they’re edging out other Nigerians, such as in the oil & gas industry.

Today, it’s the banks. Yesterday, it’s the petroleum products importers. Who knows who’s next?

When will Southerners and other marginalised Nigerians begin to resist this blatant process of internal colonialism?

Akeem Adebayo writes from   Dubin, Ireland

biina:

wait to achieve what. Those that are already found guilty should be dealt with immediately, instead of wasting time and letting them bring undue pressure on the process. The CBN has started with the most likely culprits and the result of the audit has shown so.
So if we had 24 suspected armed robber gangs, you would rather we wait to investigate all the gangs (let them keep operating), before prosecuting the 5 that we have already found evidence against?

Unfortunately we are not talking about armed robbers here we are talking about the nation's financial institutions and the dangers the activity of sanusi portends for the larger economy

and if there is any armed robber in this whole process, the Sanusi led CBN is looking more like it.

Wrong information again from sartorius, 2 banks got 50 billion each, 2 banks got 100 billion each and 1 bank got 120 billion all adding up to 420 billion.

OYB_MEND:

Unfortunately we are not talking about armed robbers here we are talking about the nation's financial institutions and the dangers the activity of sanusi portends for the larger economy

and if there is any armed robber in this whole process, the Sanusi led CBN is looking more like it.

and what are the dangers it portends? what do u hope to achieve by waiting till all the banks are audited?
A corporate executive guilty of malpractices is no different from a corrupt politician or an armed robber. They are all making money illegally and should be pruned off society accordingly.

There is nothing these banks are doing that FBN and Unity bank are not doing

and if what we are talking about is pruning them out, then the banks should be closed and all employeees sent home, not just firing the head. FBN and UNity should also suffer the same faith.

Sanusi is simply executing an agenda already detailed in the March 23 Vanguard.

SHAME ON SANUSI for pursuing such a myopic agenda.

and congratulations to him for destroying the banking sector and destroying confidence in the system just within 2 months of taking office

he is a real hatchet man and he is delivering on his job description given to him by his masters.

Water has finally found its level and common sense must prevail. He who pays the piper must dictate the tune. The banking sector has not been destroyed; people are still making deposits and the employees are still receiving salary. Foreign financial obligations have been guaranteed and the economy is doing well. Awareness has been created and the masses now understand the statement - all that glitters is not gold.

OYB_MEND:

There is nothing these banks are doing that FBN and Unity bank are not doing

and if what we are talking about is pruning them out, then the banks should be closed and all employeees sent home, not just firing the head. FBN and UNity should also suffer the same faith.

Sanusi is simply executing an agenda already detailed in the March 23 Vanguard.

SHAME ON SANUSI for pursuing such a myopic agenda.

So have Unity Bank and FBN been found guilty of same crime and not been persecuted? are you privy to specific information of at least one bad debt in the billions at either of said banks that supports your allegation or it was simply something you saw in a dream?
You are yet to answer the question of what would be gained by waiting till all the banks are audited before taking action against them?

OYB_MEND:

and congratulations to him for destroying the banking sector and destroying confidence in the system just within 2 months of taking office

he is a real hatchet man and he is delivering on his job description given to him by his masters.

destroying the banking sector and confidence in the system by removing executives that have been found guilty of cooking their books?
What should he have done? given them a pat on the back and ask them to carry on?

ok 100 , 120 fine.


what i have against the list has to do with the matter of  completeness. The CBN tells us that five out of the first ten audited  banks passed their audit (Diamond, First Bank, Guaranty Trust, UBA,  Sterling ). There is skepticism by some about this especially since  the new CBN governor previously worked in two of the  banks that  passed , i.e. First Bank and UBA.  Perhaps such skepticism is far fetched. Still, I am certain they also have some bad debtors like the five failing  banks who have had the names of their bad debtors published. In my  opinion, the names of the bad debtors of ALL the banks should be  published irrespective of whether the bank passes the CBN audit or not

sartorius:

ok 100 , 120 fine.


what i have against the list has to do with the matter of  completeness. The CBN tells us that five out of the first ten audited  banks passed their audit (Diamond, First Bank, Guaranty Trust, UBA,  Sterling ). There is skepticism by some about this especially since  the new CBN governor previously worked in two of the  banks that  passed , i.e. First Bank and UBA.  Perhaps such skepticism is far fetched. Still, I am certain they also have some bad debtors like the five failing  banks who have had the names of their bad debtors published. In my  opinion, the names of the bad debtors of ALL the banks should be  published irrespective of whether the bank passes the CBN audit or not

Every bank has loans that have gone bad. The key point is the willingness to write off the loans on the account of the bank, which will adversely affect its profit. For example, several years ago, FBN wrote off the ₦4Bn debt of a former chairman of the bank and took a substantial hit in their profits.
Hiding the bad loans, as if they were performing ones, requires you doctoring the books. Cooking the book is the problem, and not the loans being bad, but then if you have a large amount of bad loans, you would have to cook the books or face going under.

@sartorius

Your article is in the vanguard. AllAfrica link http://allafrica.com/stories/200908200366.html

In all honesty, the article looks like the beginning of an almighty battle.

Binna go and sleep as this news will be very heart breaking for you ------ the plot has failed.

CBN never conducted special exams on banks’
Headlines, National News Aug 26, 2009 By Omoh Gabriel, Emeka Aginam, James Ezema & Tordue Salem
LAGOS—More insights into the motive for the removal of the Chief Executives of Union Bank, Intercontinental, Oceanic, Afribank and Finbank emerged, yesterday, as some top officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, opposed to the sack, provided evidence which points to the fact that no special examination of the banks was conducted either by the CBN or NDIC.

Also yesterday, some members of the House of Representatives who visited Vanguard raised query on CBN’s source of the N400 billion injected into the five banks.

This position was also corroborated by the Managing Director of the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, Mr. Ganiyu Ogunleye when he appeared before the Usman Adamu_led Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives

No special examination as required by law


With documentary evidence in Abuja, the CBN officials said that what was done in the banks between February and July 2009 was on AD-HOC assignment.

A CBN letter to the banks on the 18th of June said : RE Joint CBN/NDIC AD-HOC ASSIGNMENT
The letter reads in part “a team of CBN/NDIC bank examiners led by Mr X has been scheduled to carry out an Ad-Hoc Assignment in your bank. Please provide them with the necessary information that will enable them to promptly complete the assignment.”

The CBN officials said an ad-adoc assignment was different from a special examination. They disclosed that a special examination can only be conducted on a bank if there is a petition from within the bank to CBN, stating that there is a grave situation in the bank or that after CBN/NDIC examination, the report points to a deteriorating financial situation in the bank.

According to the officials, in that case, the CBN will write formally to the bank board, intimating it of its intention to do a special examination, detailing the areas and material facts to be provided. The examiners will move in to carry out the assignment.

After the examination, the report is compiled and a copy sent to the bank for it to study. Thereafter the CBN will schedule a meeting with the bank board to discuss the findings of the report of the examination and out line possible solutions. If it is the erosion of capital, the board will be asked to raise capital and given time frame to do so. All of these were not carried out this time around, the CBN officials said

Besides, the banks affected complained that the figure on non-performing loans they were being asked to provide for changed with each examination which gave rise to suspicion that something was fishing.

A letter written by one ofthe banks to CBN Director, Banking Supervision titled request for report of CBN examination read: “We observed Sir, that CBN and NDIC examiners have visited our bank several times between the months of February and July this year.

However, we have not received any official report on any of these examinations. We equally noticed that the figures and details of non-performing accounts to be provided for, change with each different list given to us and also different from the various exit interviews held with our management. …we shall therefore be very grateful Sir if we can receive the full examination report with details of accounts deemed non-performing for our review and response in keeping with your normal practice.” The letter was not responded to, they said.

House of Reps query source of fund
Following the recent injection of N400bn into five Nigerian banks by CBN as a bail out fund, some members of the House of Representatives, yesterday, said that the CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi would be made to explain the source of the fund when the House reconvenes.

Speaking during a courtesy visit to Vanguard Newspapers in Lagos, the House stated that since they were on recess when the decision was taken, in line with due process, the CBN governor ought not to have dolled the funds to the five banks including Oceanic Bank, Intercontinental Bank, Fin Bank, Afribank, and Union Bank without a recourse to the National Assembly.

“We have raised agencies that have the backing of the law to track people who do extra budgetary expenditure. When we see that the Federal government is not acting, then we act. We believe that he acted with every good intention, but it did not follow due process.

“ There from, there is communication between the various committees. I know that there from, every other thing will follow due process and those that have not followed the law would be made to comply with the law,” Chairman of Appropriations Committee, Hon. Ayo Adeseun said, adding that the CBN would be called to order and made to explain where the bail money came from.

“It is obvious to everybody, when you are talking about bail-out, we all saw even the voting process by virtue of improved communication, we saw the voting process on the floor of the various congresses.

“So, if one person appointed a governor who does not know the workings of government, that means the person be called to order for proper orientation on his job. And that is probably the first attempt at public life. Whereas he is pursuing good intentions but good intentions must be pursued through due process. And we are also handling a delicate times when the stock exchange has lost, in the last one week, over N600 billion in value.

“ We come from constituencies, we feel the pulse of the people. Where as you are safe-guarding the deposit of money, you also do not want them to lose out. Things must be done properly. It is wrong, it is totally wrong and the central Bank Governor must be called to order that he did not follow due process. We must call a spade a spade,” he further stated.

Similarly, Honourable Igo Agumah, representing Port Harcourt I Federal Constituency, Rivers State, who also condemned the action of the CBN on bail-out fund, said that it was time due process was followed for a better polity.

“I’ll like to assure that this government is not running without a legislature. I think that the legislature is part of what makes this government a democracy and in addition to a few of the things that have been said, first on the bail-out money, I think that this House is going to insist that the CBN governor discloses where he got the money to give to the five banks. It is part of what we’ll do.

“I’ll like to inform that all these things had taken place while the House of Reps is on recess. And on the very first day at work, we’ll require the CBN to actually disclose the source of the money, where he got it from in order to do what they have done,” he said.

The delegation comprising chairmen of various House committees was led by House Committee Chairman on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Esseme Eyiboh, representing the Speaker Hon. Dimeji Bankole, Others were Hon. Ayo Adeseun (Appropriation), Hon. Bassey Otu (Petroleum), Hon. Sada Soli (Inter Parliamentary relations), Hon John Eno (Finance), Hon. Igo Agumah (Gas)

… NDIC disagrees
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation NDIC, Mr. Ganiyu Ogunleye, yesterday, faulted a N400 billion liquidity injection into the five banks whose former Managing Directors, boards of directors and Chairmen were sacked by the CBN for offering “non-performing” loans to the tune of N747billion to top businessmen in the country among other offences.

However, the NDIC gave kudos to CBN Governor for laying-off the erstwhile bank chiefs, stressing that the exercise, with the condition of the banks, was long overdue, even as the Corporation sought to be excluded from the list of agencies of government obliged by the Fiscal Responsibility Act to remit their surpluses to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

After the sack of Mrs. Cecilia Ibru, Bartholomew Ebong, Sebastian Adigwe, Erastus Akingbola and Mr. Okey Nwosu, Former Managing Directors of Oceanic Bank, Union Bank, Afribank, Intercontinental Bank and Fin Bank, respectively, the apex bank quickly injected over N400billion into the banks while the sanitisation of the banking sector lasted.

Responding to the N400billion pumped into the defaulting financial institutions, while he appeared before the Usman Adamu-led Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives, Mr. Ogunleye said the NDIC was working with relevant institutions to discourage what he considered a traditional response to banks on the slide.

“This idea of liquidation till eternity is not helpful. But I can assure you sir (Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee) that we are in the process of drawing a line on that. We are in the process of doing that. We agree with you completely.

He recalled that the Expand Discount Window idea for ailing banks was first introduced by the Sani Abacha regime in the wake of an earlier banking reform for reasons that no longer obtained in the present financial sector.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/08/26/cbn-never-conducted-special-exams-on-banks/

Anybody who says I should not believe Vanguard should give me 3 reasons why I should take them more seriously than the vanguard given that Vanguard correctly predicted all that is happening and is still providing proof that this who circus is a made up controversy.

adebayo's article posted in several papers. with the intending deregulation of the downstream sector in the next two months, one wonders which bank would want to get burnt, i am not saying they have done no wrong, thats for the courts to decide.

Marked! I will come back to check this soon!thanks a lot.:-)
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Why are people saying the CBN needed the legislature's permission to give banks loan. The difference between the U.S bailout and CBN's bailout is that in our own situation the CBN used their own money (it is a bank, too), in the United States version they needed federal government money due to the large amount of money they needed to pump into the banks.

Different countries used different ways to put money into their banks during the economic crisis

why sack those mds for failure to perform we can just do it igbinedion style - make lucky repeat bo! wait theay already failed and repeated o well, sanusi should have let them try and try again until the banks failed beyond recovery.

See this publication by March 2009. I t made a lot of sense then. And now!

Group plots takeover of five top banks
Written by Omoh Gabriel & Emeka Mamah
Monday, March 23, 2009
LAGOS—ANTI-CONSOLIDATION forces have regrouped with the hope of dismantling the structures and forcing a takeover of the top five banks in the country, Vanguard can now reveal.


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The grand plan by the group is to cause panic and uncertainty in the industry and make the target banks look unsafe for depositors.
Meantime, indications emerged yesterday that the Federal Government may announce the names of a new Governor of the Central Bank (CBN) and the Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF) in April just a few weeks before the tenure of the incumbents run out.
However, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has expressed concern over what it described as the rapidly deteriorating liquidity situation in the banking industry and tasked the Central Bank (CBN) to make public information on causes of the development as well as the scale of the crisis.
Vanguard investigations revealed that the aim of the anti-consolidation forces is to cause loss of public confidence in the banking industry and compel the Federal Government to move in by injecting funds. Further, they ultimately plan to instigate government to take equity holdings in the targeted banks.
Vanguard gathered that the group at work is made up of former bank owners who lost out during the consolidation exercise, a powerful clique in the present government, and some aggrieved persons in three of the six geopolitical zones in the country who felt left out in the consolidation exercise.
Presidency sources disclosed that those who felt left out in the consolidation exercise are up in arms to recoup what they felt they lost during Obasanjo years.
Part of the plans hatched by the group is to ensure that the incumbent Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, does not get a second term. The plan is also to ensure that whatever gains consolidation recorded are discredited. This, it was learnt, was meant to force the President to act quickly in the matter of appointment of a successor to Soludo as they anticipate that the president’s slow move may scuttle their dreams and cause the renewal of Soludo’s re-appointment for a second term.
The group’s second game plan is to make Nigerian banks look unsafe in the eye of the banking public. Part of the game is to spread rumours that some banks are unsound and are on the verge of collapse. They send out text messages to individuals and account holders passing wrong information on their target banks. At the moment, the group’s target is one of the high-flying new generation banks where they have sent out several messages.
New CBN Gov, Auditor-General to emerge April
The tenure of the CBN Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo and Auditor-General of the Federation, Mr. O. R. Ejenavi from Delta State will lapse in May 2009.
Naming nominees for the top jobs, according to a presidency source, will afford the Senate ample opportunity to work on them before they assume office.
While Soludo will complete his first term in office as CBN governor by May 29, Ejenavi will be due for retirement on age grounds on May 18.
However, among those being considered for the position of CBN governor include the Minister of National Planning, Dr Shamsuddeen Usman from Kano, who was a former Finance minister and deputy governor at the apex bank; another former CBN deputy governor, Obadiah Mailafia from Nassarawa, Mallam Isa Hayatudeen from Borno, a former managing director of FSB International Bank, incumbent Managing Director of First Bank, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, also from Kano, and Mallam Falalu Bello from Kaduna, Managing Director, Unity Bank.
But the most touted name so far is that of Mallam Isa Yuguda, the Bauchi State governor who won election on the platform of the All Nigeria peoples Party, ANPP, but defected to the ruling PDP last week. Yuguda is also an in-law of President Umaru Yar’Adua. Yuguda was also a former Managing Director of Inland Bank, a legacy bank in post-consolidation FinBank.
Past CBN governors include late Dr. Clement Isong (Akwa-Ibom), Alhaji Adamu Ciroma (Yobe); Mr. Ola Vincent (Lagos), late Alhaji Abdulkadir Ahmed (Bauchi); Mr. Paul Ogwuma (Abia), Dr. Joseph Sanusi (Ondo) and the current Professor Charles Soludo (Anambra).
It was also gathered that strict obedience to civil service rules will be observed in the appointment of a new Auditor General for the Federation going by the constitutional provision.
Section 86 Subsection 1 of the 1999 constitution states: “the Auditor-General for the Federation shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Federal Civil Service Commission, subject to the confirmation of the Senate.” That of the CBN may be determined by other factors, mostly political considerations which are at the pleasure of the President without recourse to the commission.
The most senior director in the office of the Auditor-General currently is Mr. Ogunsina G.F from Ekiti State who may be appointed unless there is political maneuvering. Having been a director since 2004, it may not be smooth sailing for Ogunsina because, there is another senior civil servant Mr. Osonuga T. A. from Ogun State who was promoted a director in 2007 and is being propelled by other forces to occupy the office.
It’s unfortunate top 5 banks are targeted, says official
A CBN official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that it is unfortunate that top five banks are the target. The banks, he said, are sound. The CBN had mistaken in the past the ongoing move as de-marketing by competitors in the banking industry, saying it is unhealthy competition.
The group is using this means to make depositors panic and undertake massive withdrawal of funds from the targeted banks in an attempt to cause liquidity problem in the bank. In that state they hope to cause a take over by the government which may buy a stake in the bank and later sell to members of the privileged group who may be appointed in the interim into the board of the banks.
Arewa worries over liquidity problem
However, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) expressed concern over what it described as the rapidly deteriorating liquidity situation in the banking industry and tasked the Central Bank (CBN) to inform the people the cause of the development as well as the scale of the crisis.
ACF said that the commercial banks must have obviously lent too much money to people who either invested them in buying stocks or in the importation of petroleum products in the country, but are unable to repay such loans.
A statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the Forum, Mr. Anthony Sani however blamed the CBN for enquiring “into the volume of the so-called toxic assets of the commercial banks while refusing to tell Nigerians how or why in the first place, the banks found themselves in trouble.
The statement reads “The Working Committee of the National Executive Council of the Arewa Consultative
Forum (ACF) held its meeting at its national headquarters in Kaduna on Tuesday, the 17th of March 2009. In attendance were all National officers of the ACF drawn from the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). General IBM Haruna, the Chairman presided.
“Among other things, the meeting reviewed and discussed a number of issues and other troubling developments in the country. At the end, it resolved to issue the following statement.
“The ACF deliberated on the rapidly deteriorating liquidity situation in the banking industry and observed that Nigerians are feeling increasingly frustrated by the failure of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to disclose the true the true nature and the scale of the crisis.
“Even members of the National Assembly, despite their best efforts, have been unable to get to the truth of the matter.
According to Arewa consultative forum “All that seem obvious is that our commercial banks had lent out too much money to too many people who had invested them in stocks or petroleum importation but who are now unable to pay back. Beyond that, the public has no clear idea as how or why the loans were given and on what terms."

See this publication by March 2009. I saved it because it made a lot of sense then. And now!

Group plots takeover of five top banks
Written by Omoh Gabriel & Emeka Mamah
Monday, March 23, 2009
LAGOS—ANTI-CONSOLIDATION forces have regrouped with the hope of dismantling the structures and forcing a takeover of the top five banks in the country, Vanguard can now reveal.


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The grand plan by the group is to cause panic and uncertainty in the industry and make the target banks look unsafe for depositors.
Meantime, indications emerged yesterday that the Federal Government may announce the names of a new Governor of the Central Bank (CBN) and the Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF) in April just a few weeks before the tenure of the incumbents run out.
However, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has expressed concern over what it described as the rapidly deteriorating liquidity situation in the banking industry and tasked the Central Bank (CBN) to make public information on causes of the development as well as the scale of the crisis.
Vanguard investigations revealed that the aim of the anti-consolidation forces is to cause loss of public confidence in the banking industry and compel the Federal Government to move in by injecting funds. Further, they ultimately plan to instigate government to take equity holdings in the targeted banks.
Vanguard gathered that the group at work is made up of former bank owners who lost out during the consolidation exercise, a powerful clique in the present government, and some aggrieved persons in three of the six geopolitical zones in the country who felt left out in the consolidation exercise.
Presidency sources disclosed that those who felt left out in the consolidation exercise are up in arms to recoup what they felt they lost during Obasanjo years.
Part of the plans hatched by the group is to ensure that the incumbent Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, does not get a second term. The plan is also to ensure that whatever gains consolidation recorded are discredited. This, it was learnt, was meant to force the President to act quickly in the matter of appointment of a successor to Soludo as they anticipate that the president’s slow move may scuttle their dreams and cause the renewal of Soludo’s re-appointment for a second term.
The group’s second game plan is to make Nigerian banks look unsafe in the eye of the banking public. Part of the game is to spread rumours that some banks are unsound and are on the verge of collapse. They send out text messages to individuals and account holders passing wrong information on their target banks. At the moment, the group’s target is one of the high-flying new generation banks where they have sent out several messages.
New CBN Gov, Auditor-General to emerge April
The tenure of the CBN Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo and Auditor-General of the Federation, Mr. O. R. Ejenavi from Delta State will lapse in May 2009.
Naming nominees for the top jobs, according to a presidency source, will afford the Senate ample opportunity to work on them before they assume office.
While Soludo will complete his first term in office as CBN governor by May 29, Ejenavi will be due for retirement on age grounds on May 18.
However, among those being considered for the position of CBN governor include the Minister of National Planning, Dr Shamsuddeen Usman from Kano, who was a former Finance minister and deputy governor at the apex bank; another former CBN deputy governor, Obadiah Mailafia from Nassarawa, Mallam Isa Hayatudeen from Borno, a former managing director of FSB International Bank, incumbent Managing Director of First Bank, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, also from Kano, and Mallam Falalu Bello from Kaduna, Managing Director, Unity Bank.
But the most touted name so far is that of Mallam Isa Yuguda, the Bauchi State governor who won election on the platform of the All Nigeria peoples Party, ANPP, but defected to the ruling PDP last week. Yuguda is also an in-law of President Umaru Yar’Adua. Yuguda was also a former Managing Director of Inland Bank, a legacy bank in post-consolidation FinBank.
Past CBN governors include late Dr. Clement Isong (Akwa-Ibom), Alhaji Adamu Ciroma (Yobe); Mr. Ola Vincent (Lagos), late Alhaji Abdulkadir Ahmed (Bauchi); Mr. Paul Ogwuma (Abia), Dr. Joseph Sanusi (Ondo) and the current Professor Charles Soludo (Anambra).
It was also gathered that strict obedience to civil service rules will be observed in the appointment of a new Auditor General for the Federation going by the constitutional provision.
Section 86 Subsection 1 of the 1999 constitution states: “the Auditor-General for the Federation shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Federal Civil Service Commission, subject to the confirmation of the Senate.” That of the CBN may be determined by other factors, mostly political considerations which are at the pleasure of the President without recourse to the commission.
The most senior director in the office of the Auditor-General currently is Mr. Ogunsina G.F from Ekiti State who may be appointed unless there is political maneuvering. Having been a director since 2004, it may not be smooth sailing for Ogunsina because, there is another senior civil servant Mr. Osonuga T. A. from Ogun State who was promoted a director in 2007 and is being propelled by other forces to occupy the office.
It’s unfortunate top 5 banks are targeted, says official
A CBN official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that it is unfortunate that top five banks are the target. The banks, he said, are sound. The CBN had mistaken in the past the ongoing move as de-marketing by competitors in the banking industry, saying it is unhealthy competition.
The group is using this means to make depositors panic and undertake massive withdrawal of funds from the targeted banks in an attempt to cause liquidity problem in the bank. In that state they hope to cause a take over by the government which may buy a stake in the bank and later sell to members of the privileged group who may be appointed in the interim into the board of the banks.
Arewa worries over liquidity problem
However, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) expressed concern over what it described as the rapidly deteriorating liquidity situation in the banking industry and tasked the Central Bank (CBN) to inform the people the cause of the development as well as the scale of the crisis.
ACF said that the commercial banks must have obviously lent too much money to people who either invested them in buying stocks or in the importation of petroleum products in the country, but are unable to repay such loans.
A statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the Forum, Mr. Anthony Sani however blamed the CBN for enquiring “into the volume of the so-called toxic assets of the commercial banks while refusing to tell Nigerians how or why in the first place, the banks found themselves in trouble.
The statement reads “The Working Committee of the National Executive Council of the Arewa Consultative
Forum (ACF) held its meeting at its national headquarters in Kaduna on Tuesday, the 17th of March 2009. In attendance were all National officers of the ACF drawn from the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). General IBM Haruna, the Chairman presided.
“Among other things, the meeting reviewed and discussed a number of issues and other troubling developments in the country. At the end, it resolved to issue the following statement.
“The ACF deliberated on the rapidly deteriorating liquidity situation in the banking industry and observed that Nigerians are feeling increasingly frustrated by the failure of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to disclose the true the true nature and the scale of the crisis.
“Even members of the National Assembly, despite their best efforts, have been unable to get to the truth of the matter.
According to Arewa consultative forum “All that seem obvious is that our commercial banks had lent out too much money to too many people who had invested them in stocks or petroleum importation but who are now unable to pay back. Beyond that, the public has no clear idea as how or why the loans were given and on what terms."

http://www.e-punch.com/ArticleImageEx.aspx?article=27_08_2009_030_001&type=1&mode=1

The CBN governor is acting out a script.refer to the above link.

the cleansing of the banking sector is OK but the process or action taken by SANUSI is questionable
he should have had meetings with those MDs and give them altimatum to recover their inactive loans.

and even if he was to take such action, he ought to have screen all the banks(24)before sacking anyone.

dont be surprised that there wont any of such sack again because they have dragged POLITICS Into it

lol people and their ill-informed opinions


Whether the CBN figures are right or wrong, the distress signals of these 5 banks were intense.

The mere fact that a bank constantly goes borrowing at the interbank is a sign of Fullblown DISTRESS.  Infact Sanusi was magnanimous enough not to declare them distressed!

When you constantly borrow at the interbank and there's no guarantee that you will pay back, you put other banks at risk!

This's what Sanusi is trying to salvage by quickly swinging into action. If he left the Charlatans to continue to borrow, with little or no control over their operations, it wouldn't be long before other banks become distressed, since these banks would not be able to pay back.

IMO, Sanusi has handled the situation, the most lenient way!

I believe Sanusi only gave a summary of what these CEOs did. By the time you guys get the full details, you will be shocked to the marrows.

It's not just a case of bad loans not paid back by Jimoh and the rest, there's more to it.

Here's a common trend in these banks, where the management (executive or non-executive), in connivance with their subsidiaries ran the banks aground.

And here we are on nairaland, some people are questioning the drafting of EFCC in this matter. Please, please and please, EFCC is just not about looting in government. EFCC dragnet extends to any form of financial crime in any organization- public and private.

I was telling someone how these bankers marked up on loans. For instance, Alhaji Bako needs N4 billion, the bank executive adds N500 million.

When this happens, Alhaji Bako may not even feel like paying back his N4 billion, since he's privy to the shady deals of the guys that are supposed to ensure he pays back. Hence, they are at his mercy.

You guys should look beyond the limited information at your disposal. There are certain things not yet disclosed to the public.

I posted this elswhere today. Coded warning are beginning to pour out of legal experts.

Bank Reform: NBA Advises CBN, EFCC on Due Process
By Davidson Iriekpen, 08.25.2009

The Nigerian Bar Associa-tion (NBA) has advised both the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other agencies whose shoulders rest the responsibilities to sanitise the banking system to approach their duties in strict adherence to the extant laws.
A statement by NBA President, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), said while the NBA had commended the move by the Governor of the CBN to sanitise the banking system, not a few Nigerians have expressed their anxieties at the unfolding drama and the danger the whole episode poses for the health of the financial sector.
It cautioned that the interest of depositors must be of paramount importance when adopting whatever measures deemed expedient to rein in the excesses of erring individuals with the ultimate aim of salvaging the entire system.
The association faulted the statement credited to the CBN Governor, saying that he would have preferred that the banks be sold, adding that this should not be the case because none of the banks has been declared insolvent and incapable to meet its obligations to the depositors and shareholders.
The statement added: “the EFCC appears to have been excited and the operatives of the agency are busy arresting the bank executives suspected to have breached the law in their dealings.
There is also a report that some of these people may be declared wanted in the days ahead for the perceived roles in the alleged fraud.
The EFCC boss, Mrs. Farida Waziri, has been quoted as giving the alleged debtors of the affected banks a week ultimatum to redeem their debts or face prosecution. The CBN Governor, in a moment of indiscretion, also expressed his predilection for the sale of the banks when none of them has been declared insolvent and incapable to meet its obligations to the depositors and shareholders.
These statements have excited controversies and cast a heavy shade of suspicion on the seeming altruistic intention of the Governor.
“The NBA hastens to caution government functionaries, on whose shoulders rest the onerous responsibilities to sanitise the Banking system to approach their duties with tact and in strict adherence to the extant Laws. The interest of depositors must be of paramount importance when adopting whatever measures deemed expedient to rein in the excesses of erring individuals with the ultimate aim of salvaging the entire system.
“No arbitrariness must be contemplated in resolving these issues. Debtors are under obligation to pay their debts within agreed contractual and legal framework. Those who default should be made to face full sanction within the ambit of the law. We must allow the law to dictate the steps to be taken in dealing with those involved in sharp practices.
“The NBA wishes to admonish the regulators of the system to follow due proccess in dealing with the latest development in our Banking Industry. It is our hope that the shareholders in particular, and the generality of the public, will be taken into confidence before any fundamental alteration of the character of the ownership structure of the affected companies is effected. Acting otherwise will further erode the already shattered trust between the investing public and the financial managers on one hand in addition to accentuating the doubts expressed by some in the sanitization crusade.”

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=152639

^This experiment will end in sorrow.

FOR EVERY VANGUARD, THERE IS A MORE INFORMED BUSINESSDAY!

http://businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4671:who-saw-the-bank-crisis-coming&catid=123:special-report&Itemid=361

Special Report  
Who saw the bank crisis coming?
MONDAY, 24 AUGUST 2009 01:24 MAX AMUCHIE
In a much celebrated article entitled: ‘The Agenda-Setting Role of the Mass Media in the Shaping of Public Opinion’, Maxwell McCombs, a professor  at the University of Texas, Austin, United States notes: “The power of the news media to set a nation’s agenda, to focus public attention on a few key public issues, is an immense and well-documented influence. Not only do people acquire factual information about public affairs from the news media, readers and viewers also learn how much importance to attach to a topic on the basis of the emphasis placed on it in the news. Newspapers provide a host of cues about the salience of the topics in the daily news – lead story on page one, other front page display, large headlines, etc. Television news also offers numerous cues about salience – the opening story on the newscast, length of time devoted to the story, etc. These cues repeated day after day effectively communicate the importance of each topic. In other words, the news media can set the agenda for the public’s attention to that small group of issues around which public opinion forms.”
The principal outlines of this influence had been sketched as far back as 1922 by Walter Lippmann in his work, ‘Public Opinion’. According to Lippmann, the news media are a primary source of pictures in our heads about the larger world of public affairs, a world that for most citizens is “out of reach, out of sight, out of mind.”
One can therefore appreciate the critical role of the media as the fourth estate of the realm, a tag that has stuck since Edmund Burke, the 19th century British parliamentarian and political philosopher assigned the fourth position to the media in a realm that comprises the executive, the legislature and the judiciary in that order. What we know about the world is largely based on what the media decide to tell us. More specifically, the result of this mediated view of the world is that the priorities of the media strongly influence the priorities of the public. Elements prominent on the media agenda become prominent in the public mind. If the media fail, the society is doomed. In BusinessDay this is taken seriously.
The agenda of a media house is found in its pattern of coverage of public issues over some period of time, a week, a month, an entire year. Over this period of time, whatever it might be, a few issues are emphasised, some receive light coverage, and many are seldom or never mentioned. It should, however, be noted that the use of the term ‘agenda’ here is purely descriptive. There is no pejorative implication that a media house like BusinessDay ‘has an agenda’ that it relentlessly pursues as a premeditated goal. The media agenda presented to the public results from countless day-to-day decisions by BusinessDay journalists and board of editors about the issues of the moment.
The beginning of this year presented a clear picture of the shape of things to come and BusinessDay seized it and foresaw the sequence of events that culminated in the sack of five chief executive officers of Nigerian banks on Friday, August 14. For five days, February 16 to 20, BusinessDay ran a series on the Nigerian banking sector. It was a time that there was anxiety and excitement over the reappointment or otherwise of the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Chukwuma Soludo. The professor of economics was appointed in 2004 and his coming led to consolidation in the Nigerian banking industry, an exercise that saw banks move their capital base from a paltry N2 billion to a minimum of N25 billion.
Initially, the move was criticised, but when at the end of 18 months period 25 banks scaled the huddle, consolidation was hailed as the best thing that had happened to the Nigerian banking industry.
However, for keen observers and for BusinessDay board of editors, there were challenges and miscues that needed to be addressed, questions that needed urgent answers and measures that needed to be taken to steer the Nigerian banking sector away from a path of destruction.[/b]It has become public knowledge since the landmark decision of the sack of the five CEOs on August 14 that the huge debts totaling more than one trillion naira that crippled the five banks had to do with loans related to the capital market and the oil and gas sector.
The present governor of the CBN, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, while announcing the decision to sack the five managing directors, attributed the crisis in the banking sector to a failure of regulation over time. [b]Long before then, BusinessDay had recognised the nexus between the margin loan crisis and weak regulation. The paper’s lead story on Tuesday, February 17, 2009, was entitled: ‘How regulatory failure created margin loan crisis’. BusinessDay wrote: “A failure of regulatory oversight by the monetary authorities, charged with the responsibility to monitor and supervise how banks lend and disburse loans in the financial system, has been identified for the massive margin loan crisis hanging over the banking industry.
“The banking regulator, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is believed to have taken its eye off the ball while a number of banks moved recklessly into the capital market to perpetrate unwholesome practices designed and calculated to shore up the value of their shares in the capital market.”[/color]We further went to report that the CBN only moved to play its oversight role after the crisis had deepened, and even when it did, its measures were targeted at general monetary concerns.
The next day, BusinessDay’s lead story was ‘Outrage as CBN lends to some banks at 11 percent’. The story reads: “The Central Bank’s expanded discount window through which it acts as lender of the last resort to the nation’s banks was opened a bit wider some months ago but access was initially fixed at an outrageously low eleven percent per annum.
“Almost a trillion naira was extended to the banks since September when access through the window was eased but some bankers thought it was unwise and indeed curious that the Central Bank will extend credit to banks at eleven percent interest rate at a time when deposits could command as much as 16 or even 17 percent.[color=#006600]“Expectedly a deluge of requests came in from the banks, some simply because they could not just sit there watching their competitors profit from a seemingly unusual handout from the lender of last resort.”
The story quoted a banker who said: “All over the world, when you reach out to the lender of last resort, what you get is at a premium. But here banks were to all intents and purposes being rewarded instead of being punished.”[color=#770077][/color]On page 53 of the same edition, we ran a story entitled, ‘With blurred supervision, banks are back to cooking the books’. In the story, BusinessDay writes, “Declarations of bogus profits and failure to disclose toxic assets have crept into Nigeria’s banking system. And analysts, worried by the trend, say banking in the country has gone back to the old days when banks kept more than one statement of account for different purposes.“But the understanding of many was that the Central Bank of Nigeria would be up to the task of supervising and discouraging banks from cutting corners. Information reaching BusinessDay indicates that the apex bank may have been looking the other way while banks cheated their shareholders of billions of naira.”
[b]On Thursday, February 19, 2009, BusinessDay came out with a lead headline ‘CBN’s lax supervision set stage for irregular financial reporting’. According to the report, CBN’s laxity in effectively monitoring financial reporting by banks had put it at daggers drawn with Nigerian Accounting Standards Board (NASB) charged with the task of ensuring compliance with set standards of financial reporting in Nigeria which is in line with international accounting standards.[/b]For instance, according to the story, analysts expressed surprise over lack of details by the banks which supply only basic information as profits, earnings, shareholders’ funds at the exclusion of important details such as unsecured consumer credits, trade finance exposure, equity markets risk, corporate lending risk, sovereign fixed income as well as significant potential for foreign currency risk as point of large scale asset and liability transactions with international counterparts.
[b]And on Friday, February 20, 2009, the last day of the series, which was three months ahead of the end of the tenure of Soludo as CBN governor, BusinessDay predicted that he would not be reappointed and took the public through reasons he was unlikely to get a second term in office.[/b]Quoting an advisory by Eurasia, the leading political risk research and consulting firm based in New York, the United States, BusinessDay catalogued a number of CBN’s policy somersaults, condescending statements talking up the economy and flip-flops which together with other issues have helped to dent Soludo’s chances of re-appointment.
The report reads: “Soludo’s current five-year tenure ends in May. While Soludo gained widespread international respect for his leadership in pushing banking sector reforms and a massive consolidation of the Nigerian banking system under the Obasanjo administration, his recent miscues on the direction of inflation and currency policy have left his much vaunted credibility damaged. Whoever replaces Soludo from Yar’Adua’s inner circle is likely to be more strongly market interventionist than Soludo, who had until recently been fairly neo-liberal in his policies.”   Since Sanusi sacked Erastus Akingbola of Intercontinental Bank, Cecilia Ibru of Oceanic Bank, Okey Nwosu of FinBank, Barth Ebong of Union Bank and Sebastian Adigwe of Afribank, it has become public knowledge that they were the main beneficiaries of the controversial expanded discount window, had cooked books to hoodwink the public and their shareholders and exposure to margin loans. BusinessDay foresaw the present crisis and faithfully discharged its responsibility to the public, but nobody, not even the authorities paid attention.

Remember BusinessDay has no other business than reporting and analysing the economy and the financial system.
I go with the BusinessDay prediction over Vanguard's because it is based on hard facts and figures rather than Vanguard's account which was was based on rumours and unsubstantiable.
BusinessDay, being a close watcher of the financial system, has been alerting us of this problem since February, running reports and analyses. Now tell me, if the Chief Economist of BusinessDay or any of its editors,all of them sounterners, had been appointed CBN governor, wont he have taken such decisions as Sanusi took. If Businessday, a financial system watch, could be aware of the enormity of what was going on in these banks, how much more Sanusi, a CEO of a co-bank.

Or is BusinessDay also pursuing a northern agenda?

fyneguy
Posts: 854

Online

 Re: Do You Approve Of Lamido Sanusi's Actions?
« #120 on: Today at 09:31:08 AM »  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

lol people and their ill-informed opinions


Whether the CBN figures are right or wrong, the distress signals of these 5 banks were intense.

The mere fact that a bank constantly goes borrowing at the interbank is a sign of Fullblown DISTRESS.  Infact Sanusi was magnanimous enough not to declare them distressed!

When you constantly borrow at the interbank and there's no guarantee that you will pay back, you put other banks at risk!

This's what Sanusi is trying to salvage by quickly swinging into action. If he left the Charlatans to continue to borrow, with little or no control over their operations, it wouldn't be long before other banks become distressed, since these banks would not be able to pay back.

IMO, Sanusi has handled the situation, the most lenient way!

I believe Sanusi only gave a summary of what these CEOs did. By the time you guys get the full details, you will be shocked to the marrows.

It's not just a case of bad loans not paid back by Jimoh and the rest, there's more to it.

Here's a common trend in these banks, where the management (executive or non-executive), in connivance with their subsidiaries ran the banks aground.

And here we are on nairaland, some people are questioning the drafting of EFCC in this matter. Please, please and please, EFCC is just not about looting in government. EFCC dragnet extends to any form of financial crime in any organization- public and private.

I was telling someone how these bankers marked up on loans. For instance, Alhaji Bako needs N4 billion, the bank executive adds N500 million.

When this happens, Alhaji Bako may not even feel like paying back his N4 billion, since he's privy to the shady deals of the guys that are supposed to ensure he pays back. Hence, they are at his mercy.

You guys should look beyond the limited information at your disposal. There are certain things not yet disclosed to the public

correct!!!

well,
all i can say is NIGERIANS WAKE UP, TAKE A LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE!!
okay chase debtors, get the money nice, but couldnt he have give these directors a warning and time to get this so called debts?is the only reason for this take over? yes, i said TAKE OVER, because that is what it is!!

we the wise nigerians know "their" plans, after a while,quote me on this, the "puppet acting M.D.s will get up and tell us that they "couldnt salvage" the banks and make d money ( billions injected into the banks, as if they were needed; these banks were doing well without the monry) back, then the so called 'INVESTORS" and sanusi will then tell us the "INVESTORS" want ownership instead and then we will know the real identity of these unknown "INVESTORS".

nigerians, WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE!!

Has anyone read this reported in vanguard. I have always been of the view that here is nothing to this than a genuine attempt to prune the banking sector of various ills even though , I dont agree it was done in the best manner.
This was reported in guardian way back in March 2009
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/08/26/group-plots-takeover-of-five-top-banks/

adigun101:

Has anyone read this reported in vanguard. I have always been of the view that here is nothing to this than a genuine attempt to prune the banking sector of various ills even though , I dont agree it was done in the best manner.
This was reported in guardian way back in March 2009
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/08/26/group-plots-takeover-of-five-top-banks/

I don't go with Vanguard's prediction. BusinessDay did a more informed prediction: http://businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4671:who-saw-the-bank-crisis-coming&catid=123:special-report&Itemid=361