This is beginning to look more like it! Fingers pointing in every direction with the Federal Government taking a stance on the recent rating by Transparency International that Nigeria ranked 130th on a list of the world’s most corrupt nations.
There are two main things here for me.Firstly the government does not deny Nigeria’s endemic corruption, good start. Secondly, the federal gavornment points gingers at the Organized Private Sector for the worsened rating from 120th to 130th within the last year.
On the first issue, could Nigeria’s position have really improved without the banking scandal and turmoil in the financial services sector?
On the second issue, I am excited at the ‘expanded’ inclusion of the OPS as part of the contribution to Nigeria’s corrupt image.
Now, there is no point in wasting time on corruption in government and leadership. That dog is beaten and dead. However, a closer look at the notion that the OPS is additionally corrupt is of more interest.
The revelations of the scandals within the banking sector are more enlightening than Nigerians are aware. The practices of bank executives have been shown to be as damaging to the country and her people whilst the focus has consistently been on leaders and government.
It is agreed that much of the corruption in the OPS was in concert with government and government officials.
Without a clear notion of banking practices, many institutions depended heavily on government patronage to shore up their books and ‘show’ a healthy bottom-line.
The beauty pageant styled parade of top banking executives at every given photo opportunity with government officials was more telling of the fact that without the huge deposits from state and federal government institutions, many of Nigeria’s fancy banks and bankers would be non-existent.
The true test of capacity in most banks would be the withdrawal of government funds/deposits from private banking institutions. This would reveal who really knew what to do in the area of providing banking products and services for non-government customers and institutions.
A few IFs at this point, if you please.
If acting as favoured depositories for governments, the banks would be positioned to provide government officials with residual income from ‘commissions’ paid out periodically in lieu of being accepted as preferred bankers. If so, it would be possible for such commissions to run into millions of Naira on a monthly basis.
If this were the case, the it should be no surprise that the ordinary bank customer soon constituted a nuisance to bank executives whilst the inter-state highways witnessed grand prix styled races of flashy leased vehicles heading to state government administration headquarters.
Similarly, one would see bank executives pacing impatiently in executive lounges at airports irritated at the delays in take off of commercial flights to state and federal capitals in the country. Little wonder then, the rush to purchase private jets as a means of getting there before your competitors?
If top bank executives secured preferred bank status with governement, it would ‘open’ such banks and such executives to indebtedness to the government officials who made such approvals possible. Little wonder what the bank executive would do if the said government officials needed the favour returned without too many questions asked.
If the banks and bank executives relied heavily on funds deposited on a frequent basis by government and governments, little wonder that such bank executives would be tempted to misappropriate shareholders funds with the hope that such monies would be ‘replaced’ with further deposits authorized by friends in government? Something smacks of money-laundering in there.
If top executives in Nigerian banks could ‘borrow’ their own bank’s funds at zero or little interest to invest in huge private development projects, little wonder why many executives are secured for life with expansive high-end luxury residential properties in prime locations?
Since the arrival of the Bow-tied Sheriff with of course the lovely Mrs Farida Waziri in tow, there has been a conspicuous absence of bank executives in photo ops with government officials. This is scandalous as they often provided the only fashion highlight of most frontpages of Nigerian newspapers. A splash of violent red here, a well-coifed hairstyle there and a smattering of accessories all surrounding a rather less-fashionably robed government official.
What is the federal government going to do about this? Like with corruption in government, are there any deterrents to prevent the next private sector executive from using shareholders’ hard-earned savings to purchase a ridiculous number of shops in Dubai?
What is the deterent to stop the next bank executive from denying you a loan yet ‘revive’ your company name and use it to ‘acquire’ the same loan you requested but for their own private use?
There you were walking away downcast that your $1m project was dead because your company would not be supported by your bankers. Unbeknownst to you, your company had just assumed a liability for the same amount but would never know or see the money until there was an outbreak of a scandal at your bank.
Will a 2-year jail term without the necessary additional fines or recovery or the embezzled funds and seizure of assets stop the next private sector executive or indeed government official from doing the same tomorrow? A slap on the wrist may well be effective in other countries but in Nigeria?
While Sanusi Lamido’s suggested option of lining up bank executives and executing them is not a favoured deterent in my opinion, there needs to be harsh penalties for those found guilty of corruption in Nigeria to the deterrence of such happening again and with such disregard for the country and the ordinary Nigerian.
The issue of the corruption in the OPS needs to be kept on the front burner as should the same issues in government. Please remember that, as someone once said, Nigerians have a 3-day attention span on anything.
The challenge to the non-government sector participants is to ensure that its credibility in the war against corruption is not impacted by accusations of being the reasons for Nigeria’s low ratings. Considering that the problem of corruption is endemic, it is an uphill task for them.
For those bank executives making surrepticious moves to dispose of properties abroad that they had used shareholders’ funds to purchase for themselves, girlfriends and friends, they only managed to escape or talk their way out of the warmth of the lovely Mrs Farida Waziri’s arms and should hurriedly pay back what they owe the Nigerian shareholder.
So for those executives who have suddenly become God-fearing and have become the lay-preachers and pastors in their churches after the whirlwind that was Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, they should remember that no amount of public perception of their changed ways will remove from the fact that they are thieves and inherently so.
Like in the question of the separation of State and the Church, professional Bankers should not be Pastors, Reverends, Apostles, Evangelists etc. They simply cloud the issues with quotes from the Bible in a bid to answer questions on economic growth and shareholder values.
The time has come to ‘force’ banking and financial institutions to do what they were set up for and not serve as private depositories for ‘friends’ in government of leadership to deposit questionable funds.
The time has also come for the ordinary Nigerian to see the benefit of having and effective banking support system in furtherance of their smaller businesses and personal finances.
Without government deposits’ support and conaivance of government officials, would many of today’s banks in Nigeria survive?
Would we be playing the childhood asking game of; Who, me? Yes, you! Couldn't be! Then who? with the OPS?
Going by the latest stance of the federal government, the Barbarians are in the Organized Private Sector.
Thigs that make you go hmmm…
What do you think?
