There is something to say for this country of ours. Take a short break and by the time you come back the whole place has been overrun by barbarians and your neighbourhood OPC.
Keep a little amount of money in a bank and before you know it, some bank MD is buying a glamourized canoe or a well-tiled bamboo hut somewhere abroad.Part amusement, part befuddlement, part incomprehensible shock. The Barbarians have overrun the sentries at the chicken fence. So much for perimeter defense strategies.
Let us look at the players, hunters and potential fallout of all of this mess. I seem to remember someone always saying ‘What a fine mess, you got us into this time!’ (Laurel & Hardy, I believe). Quite apt in this current comedy called Banking 101 – Nigeria Style.
How foolish I was when asked to consider working in an evolving Banking Sector in Nigeria upon return to the country a number of years ago. I said then that none of the Banks could afford to pay me enough. I was thinking the huge potential for mental redundancy and an overwhelming frustration with a sector filled with people who had no idea what they were doing considering my experience in the sector gained in more stable and accountable environments.
Duh! The whole adventure could have paid me more than I could ever imagine any Banker or Banking Staff earning in a lifetime anywhere else. The Barbarians have been identified, a few good 200 in the least, with a bow-tied hunter and our dear Mrs. Farida Waziri completing the cast of this award-threatening comedy.
Much has been made of the tactics employed by the bow-tied one. His generosity by another name, bailout, proving to be a poisoned chalice for those now labeled barbarians. The gorgeous Mrs. Waziri maintains her lovely smile in silhouette looming just above him.
Is this an Agenda being executed on behalf of an aggrieved North? I personally don’t think so. I think this is a weak argument when you consider the position the banks and their executives put themselves in. If the house was not dirty, even to the Blind man, the cleaners would have not come in, invited or not.
Let us understand that these ‘former’ and current executives of financial institutions have entered into a marriage of convenience with the CBN. It is clear what the supervisory and punitive capabilities of the CBN are in the event that any of these institutions require CBN interjection. Like the AP Shares Underwriting agreement, they also signed up to the CBN relationship with ‘eyes wide shut’.
Crying today that Lamido Sanusi is enacting a well-orchestrated scheme against a section of the country, holds no water for me.
However, with the fundamentals of banking, lending or borrowing being seemingly set aside for handshakes and pats on the back or even face recognition in some cases, one wonders how the parties expected to get away with this mess. Nigeria is a country of 150m or so inhabitants, well ok, people, and is capable of absorbing a lot of mess with a few million heads rolling. This mess will go away but what will be left?
Will the Sanusitization of the banking industry lead to credibility and transparent functionality? Will there be true banking operations and offerings that help grow the overall economy rather than the friend-to-friend banking we seem to have?
I have certain firm opinions about this mess. The industry and the practices were certainly faulty, fraudulent and lacked skilled professionals. This was going to lead to a ‘crash’ of sorts at some point. The figures give you a headache.
Northern Agenda or not, I do not agree with the publication of names of debtors.
Business transactions falter due to numerous extenuating circumstances. The danger here is that the common man who is not au fait with the mechanics of lending, borrowing and repayments with institutions will see this as a mere direct and intentional rape of the country by all listed. The potential of that is the subjecting of the listed to the wrath of the people.
Nigeria will absorb yet another great show of mediocrity being accepted as a prevailing standard in some of our practices. The people are so battered by reports of corruption and executive stealing that the broad brushstrokes apply whenever issues such as these arise.
Finally, I am greatly upset with the EFCC that my name did not make the list of the 200. I have worked just as hard as the accused/alleged. The failure to meet the recognition as a super big boy/girl in Nigeria despite my efforts riles me.
Someone suggested I should pay the EFCC to include me on the list. My next conversation with the lovely Mrs. Farida Waziri should take care of that.
What do you think?
