- Sometime in June/July 2004, Prof Chukwuma Charles Soludo announced the consolidation package for Nigerian banks, which eventually kicked off in January, 2006

- Banks in Nigeria could then run head-to-head with some other banks outside our shores

- There was money to lend and for the first time, consumer loans thrived, people could get auto loans and facilities to buy and pay for household items over a future period

- Banks profits rose astronomically, resulting in shooting up of banks share prices

- Bank CEOs started using private jets, and could afford security detail, akin to those of state governors

- The watch-dog (WD) went to bed

-Then came over-trading 

- Banks ventured into riskier areas, throwing caution to the wind: loans were given without collateral, and without a second way out

- Corporate governance issues were neglected, as CEOS:

             o Approved loans for themselves

             o Approved loans above their limits

             o Avoided full disclosure of portfolios, and didn’t make statutory provisions as required by prudential guidelines

             o Went into spending spree and purchase of properties in choice areas using, now depositors’ money

- The watch-dog was still sleeping, and erring banks/CEOS were not cautioned

- Many banks, b/c of overtrading got hooked in liquidity mess & some were technically out of the clearing house in 2008/2009

- The watch-dog started getting too familiar with CEOs, and the bonding became more friendly, such that work could not be delineated from pleasure

- He assisted PHB and supervised their aborted takeover of Springbank, and helped another bank CEO to oust his opponents on the board, in order to clear the grounds for the CEO

- The WD (CBN) opened up the Expanded Discount Window (EDW) for more money to be taken by affected banks to solve their liquidity wahala

- Then came a soldier, who is a Risk Manager and understands bank risks

- He continued releasing funds to banks via the EDW, & was watching keenly

- The new soldier sacked CEOs of banks, and introduced bailout to sinking banks

- This was met with varied opinions

- He Forced banks to start making provisions and respect corporate governance tenets

- Huge bad loans were discovered & uncovered, some of which were given to cronies of CEOs

- Attempts to recover these loans have yielded little or nothing

- Huge losses were recorded, which ate into banks’ capital and shareholders’ funds, & he says it is good , claiming banks existed on bubble capital

- It then became obvious that the banks cannot continue to carry their costs & still survive

- Then started the tsunami of sacks, job losses and layoffs of bank workers

- As at the time I lost count, over 10,000 jobs had been lost, and still counting…

- The old boss has since retired to full time politics as a guber aspirant, promising to make Anambra State, the Dubai of Africa—sounds great!!!!!!!


The question is: IS SOLUDO A HERO, OR A VILLAIN?

He was a Hero.

to me, it was part of the third term campeign programme as our banks have never been consolidated for once.
all those gara - gara were made on temporary bases as a way of promoting the then greedy govt.
there was no kind of institutionalising the system to warrant continuation.
the consolidated banks were never consolidated as they have been under preasure to meet up with the financial demands hence all sorts of financial irrgularities have been in place in our banks.
our girls who grauduated from the universities were forced into professional prostitution while our drug trafickers and govt officials used these banks who need funds from all fronts to keep up by the day.
in our banks, such information as N2m maximum and N4m for personal and co-orperate account respectively but which bank report offenders and loose their costumers?
no wonder mo,ny laundary was on the high under obj/soludo.
at the end of the day, he was serving a purpose for which he is been rewarded with the anambra govt house.
telecommunication came to stay in nigeria and we are obviously enjoying that till date so other areas where politics was the reason have since failed eg; efcc and banks.

villain without doubt, sanusi is the hero

some of us know the pain of loosing hard earned money to collapsed banks and wonder banks, a stitch in time saves nine.

He started out as a hero but i think he became complacent and the watchdog and the bank CEOs became drinking buddies so he'z not really a villain, maybe a 'hellain'

Soludo is a hero.

One point:
In his time, jobs were created in ten of thousands and never lost,
In just 3 months of Sanusi, more than 10,000 jobs have been lost.

Truth be told, Sanusi has no idea what he is doing and that is the reason he has stopped talking to the press.

Nigerians have a lousy attitude when it comes to rules. We think rules are there to make us miserable and the CEOs operated in such an environment. Where were the directors when these CEOs were giving loans against the set standards ? Why don't we have a whistle blowing culture ? This problem is more of a Nigerian thing if you ask me

edoyad:

Nigerians have a lousy attitude when it comes to rules. We think rules are there to make us miserable and the CEOs operated in such an environment. Where were the directors when these CEOs were giving loans against the set standards ? Why don't we have a whistle blowing culture ? This problem is more of a Nigerian thing if you ask me

Which side do you take, brother?

2me,soludo was, is and will ever be d hero! Sanusi was under pressure n wantd 2make name 4hmsf after seeing d high pace set by his predecessor, started creating unemployments instead of employments,unlike d former. No matter how u see it,he is a losser. Now he is a confused man and doesnt know what 2do! He has failed in his risk mgt period.

He is indeed a hero. Facts are evident. Disregard these thrump-up charges of recklessness. They are purely politically oriented and motivated. I trust u have a sound discerning mind, to tell facts from lies.

soludo's programme was artificial. find out from those working in our banks then, they were never employed on permernent basis.
he worked for a man who in turn is working for him now.
he never brought a lasting solution to our banking problems.
he built the banks on sands without deep-rooted foundations.
he made name for himself and time creating looting routes for the top bankers and top govt officials at the detriments of the poor masses.
thank God, there was a timely intervention that exposed the system.
he was never a natural man.
if the exageration in the banking industry was real, soludo wld have gone higher instead of descending so low to be used by illetrate politicians.
we all saw the coming and going of okonjo iweala and we know where she is today. that is standing up on ur legs and facing the real world not licking the shoes of an illetrate soldier.
what he did could be done by a blind, deaf and dumb person.
the consequences of his uncallculated attempt to make heaven out of hell over night include truning our female bankers into professional prostitutes.

a villain.

the whole thing is sad when you think about it - those f-ucking 'bankers' squandered so many opportunities

they had a 25 billion capital base, and they mostly blew it on advertising, awards to each other and self aggrandizement

in retrospect, the consolidation exercise failed because at the end, too many people with no business being in the industry were still around.