By ABDULRAHMAN ABDULRAHHEEM 

ANY further analysis of the extensive damage corruption and abuse of office have done to the health and vitality of Nigeria is a gross waste of time, energy and space. What is more important at this juncture is a study of the approach of the present administration to tackling the cancer of corruption. 

Grim corruption situation

The United States Department of States’ 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Nigeria’, said there was still massive, widespread and pervasive corruption at all levels of government. It attributed this to a lack of consistent implementation of the relevant laws against corrupt practices in public offices.

Nigeria also had an unimpressive ranking on Transparency International, TI’s annual Corruption Perception Index, CPI, a tool for assessing the prevalence of corruption in countries. The country came 150th among 180 countries in the 2022 ranking released in January 2023. It was an improvement in ranking, even though its score of 24 out of 100 points was the same as it was in the previous year when it was ranked 154th. Prior to the 2021 ranking released in 2022, Nigeria was better placed, occupying the 149th position in the 2020 ranking

Tinubu’s Manifesto on Corruption 

In his election-winning manifesto of 2023, President Tinubu promised to fight corruption by focusing more on preventive measures. Part of his strategy, he said, would be putting a system for effective wealth redistribution to reduce the temptation to commit corruption. 

The President also vowed that his administration would support the “existing anti-corruption institutions” and also address the underlying issues of corruption in the oil industry.

President Tinubu also said he would ”streamline the civil service to fight corruption, reduce bureaucracy in government agencies and decrease inefficiency and waste.”

“Such expenditures will have a low priority in our administration. Bona fide hard-working members of the civil service are to be commended for their public service and shall be protected. However, we will continue the process of weeding out ghost workers, as well as ghost projects and expenditures from the system,” the campaign document read in part.

Special investigation on CBN

Knowing full well that if corruption and abuse of office in high places are allowed to remain the order of the day, his Renewed Hope agenda would rather remain a wretched mirage, President Tinubu came into office with serious fire in the belly and passion to tackle corruption. He had promised to rely on the already existing institutions to carry out his vision on anti-corruption. While the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, and the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, are the lead agencies in the fight against corruption, the banking sector has been the major enabler of all manners of financial crimes in the country. The CBN exists to regulate the banking sector, act as Banker of the government and ensure financial stability in line with its mandate. But before it can play the role the President wanted it to play in the entire anti-graft crusade, the apex bank itself and its recent past had to be probed.

The President therefore on July 28, 2023, appointed a special investigator, a former Executive Secretary of the Financial Reporting Council, FRC, Mr Jim Osayande Obazee, as the Chairman and tasked him to head a panel to probe the CBN. The President said this was part of measures meant to fortify Government Business Entities, GBEs.

Wielding the big stick 

The special investigator returned a damning verdict to the President. According to the report, a former CBN governor,  had, among other mouthwatering scandals, allegedly used his proxies to illegally acquire a bank and other financial institutions. 

The report further linked a late industrialist to the illegal acquisition of two banks.

According to the report which was submitted to the President on December 20, 2023, the acquisitions were carried out separately.

The special investigator said that it reached the conclusion following the failure of the purported shareholders to appear before its panel with the necessary documents to prove that they genuinely acquired the bank. The panel therefore recommended that the Nigerian government should take over the bank from the purported owners.

On the basis of the damning report, the CBN wielded the big stick on Union Bank, Polaris Bank and Keystone Bank, and dissolved their management and boards. 

The CBN justified its decision on the basis of grievous infringements of financial laws.

It said the banks’ infractions vary from regulatory non-compliance, corporate governance failure, disregard of the conditions under which their licences were granted, and involvement in activities that posed a threat to financial stability, among others.

Hence, the apex bank, in the exercise of its regulatory powers, said the dissolution of the boards became necessary due to the non-compliance of the banks and their respective boards with the provisions of the Financial Institutions Act, 2020.

New kids on the block

To replace the sacked CEOs, the CBN immediately appointed new executive directors to oversee the operations of the three banks. 

According to a statement by CBN’s spokesperson, Hakama Sidi-Ali, the first female CEO of the Standard Chartered bank in Sierra Leone, Yetunde Oni, was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank, while Mannir Ubali Ringim was selected as the Executive Director of the bank.

For Keystone Bank, Hassan Imam was appointed as its Chief Executive Officer, while Chioma Mang got the position of Executive Director.

Also, the bank appointed Lawal Mudathir Omokayode Akintola as the Chief Executive Officer of Polaris Bank and Chris Ofikulu as its Executive Director.

Observers will expect the reign of these new heads to usher in some sanity in those banks and the entire banking sector. Heads of other banks will now get the message that there is a new Sheriff in town who brooks no nonsense. This, therefore, means that going forward, it will be business unusual. 

Last Line 

President Tinubu has by the actions of the past few weeks demonstrated that all the shenanigans and scandals that his predecessors allowed and turned a blind eye on will not happen under his watch. As far as the banking sector and the entire monetary side of the economy are concerned, the President obviously  has a willing ally and competent enforcer in the CBN governor, Olayemi Cardoso.

•Abdulraheem, author of “eNaira Revolution: A Peep into Nigeria’s Cashless Future”, wrote from Abuja