CBN wields the big stick

Until a few weeks back, it looked as if every web site had a picture of Cecelia Ibru. Most of these banks were declaring large profits until some months ago. Where was CBN until now? And what happens to those who borrowed from these failing banks. It has been alleged they are big men in the society. This looks like a cover-up. By removing the CEOs, and injecting funds, so that the banks continue to operate, we will never know the thieves who stole from the banks. Very Nigerian solution!

@ Odediran, Very true! The thieves who stole from these banks should be brought to book. Injecting money into the banks is not enough. CBN should start by naming these individuals and their collaborators in the banks.

Let the FG puts in place an Emergency Financial Security Plan. Publish the Names of the Almighty debtors of this Banks. Commence recovery plan and prosecute where necessary.

I think it's high time we understand that the CBN is working in the intrest of all - both shareholders,depositors,creditors,members of staff of these banks.I only wonder how long this interim arrangement will last before government divests their shares in these banks...!!

I do not beleive in this CBN's action. Sanusi assumed the CBN position with a mindset. This is the beginning of what is going to happen to other banks' MDs. Various reasons are going to be adduced to remove them and pave the way for the coming of some people who lost out in the banking consolidation exercise under Soludo. There were rumours before now that Sanusi was targetting Tony Elumelu for almost sacking him in UBA in 2006, Ceceila Ibru, Erastus Akingbola and Jim Ovia. This is a grand design of a section of the country to take over these banks and events would soon prove this to be true. I pity Nigeria!

Some of us saw this coming a long time ago. The aggressive manner by which Banks were seeking for cash deposits from customers, especially using the so-called, very desperate female "marketers", indicated that all was not well or that there was something "fishy" going on.Coupled with this was the rate of denials of insolvency from the Management of some of these banks, many of which were trying desperately to cover up their problems. When finally, an "insider" was appointed as CBN Governor recently, I knew it was just a matter of time before the bubble will burst. Mark my words, many more heads will roll in other banks. This is just the beginning. Well done, Sanusi, but please let us know the real "big men" responsible for this "mess".

@Ayo..please wake up. the action of the CBN governor is in the intrest of the general public. remenber some months ago a publication in france raised concern about the state of some of the banks and three of the banks are among the banks the CBN toook action on. there is no gain saying that this a ploy to compensate those that lost out in the last consolidation of the banking industry. i know that this action will serve as a wake up call for the remaining bank to put their house in order. Sanusi is starting up very well i hope he continues to sanitise the industry and inject liquidity in the economy.

ayo, its too early to bring in tribal sentients into the unfolding events in a critical sector of ours. sanusi enjoyed a very professional relationship with tony,infact during a crisis that resulted in the kano state govt removing its FACC/JAC acoount, due to an article, that was parcived as damaging to the then kwankosso govt,written by sanusi. tony stood by him. we should all hope that at the end of the day, these actions would not only protect depositors funds, shareholders investments, but would bring us all back to respecting core values.

WE (the banking public) HAVE BEEN KEPT IN THE DARK (high rates, managed stock prices, false annual results, lottery/bonnanza banking)AND FED A LOT OF BULLSHIT (awards galore: best CEO, biggest bank, number 10 in Africa, all banks are safe..etc)..NOW THE SHIT HAS HIT THE FAN (CBN, thank you for cleaning up..)

@ Ayo if ur comments were true UBA wld not hav survived the audit it did as for chasing debtors he made it clear that they wld do everything within the law to do not just that but confiscate assets where they can. Read his speech it is on the site

I don't know about you guys but i think the media - especially the press - has aided the facade of 'wellness' in the banking sector. Case in point is the recent media hype carried out by Intercontinental and Oceanic banks... I mean Intercontinental was described as a very strong bank with reports being published by various audit and rating coys! But I do also recall a report and the rumours which gave Intercontinental poor ratings too! So how do we explain this? Whose report should we believe? Personally I think a blanket ban on spurious ratings and awards be put into effect immediately including those of Fitch and Agusto!

I have mixed feelings about this. Yes, something had to be done to prevent a systemic collapse of the financial sector. Yes, these MDs (and probably several others) were culpable in the mismanagement of their banks. Yes, there were huge corporate governance challenges - with all too obvious parallels to government, many publicly traded institutions in Nigeria are run for the benefit of executive management, not the shareholders. But BOARDS, not just executive management, are responsible for corporate governance. The tales of insider dealing - including the incestuous intertwining of debt issuance with equity purchase - are much more pervasive than these 5 banks. I concede you have to start somewhere, but i hope that the reform of corporate governance for publicly listed companies in Nigeria will go way beyond this. Of course, the prospect for this seem bleak when the NSE unanimously elects as president a man on whose behalf the one PROVEN case of stock manipulation was made. Clean out the NSE, institute the Nigerian equivalent of the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act - make it clear that CEOs of public companies, and their supervising boards, will be held criminally responsible for misrepresentation of performance, and other gross violations of shareholder and public trust.

Audit was done for 10 banks out of 24 n 5 banks have got that much debt profile!!! Realy where was CBN all along? Nigeria is a big joke.

Let's ease up on the conspiracy theories. Nigeria's present banking problems primarily has it's genesis in two principal factors: (1) the huge exposure to margin loans extended during the capital market boom, whose subsequent implosion has its roots in the global financial crises that dried up "easy" (or cheap) funds (including large withdrawals of foreign portfolio investment in Nigeria by equity funds and Diaspora Nigerians battling an economic downturn abroad); and (2) a similarly huge exposure to the oil and gas sector on account of credit liberally extended when oil prices stood at well over $100 (cresting at $147) per barrel.

Prof Hindu: ultimately, it is not the NSE's job, but the SEC's, to regulate the capital market (including oversight of the NSE) and set corporate governance standards. Hopefully, the new SEC DG brought in from the AfDB will get to it.

I'm not sure I am comfortable with the power of the CBN Governor to sack bank execs, it doesn't give off a sense of good governance either. It wld make sense to have regular reporting from the banks to the CBN with the ability of the CBN to make known any issues to the Board of the banks who shld have the powers to dismiss the executive they appointed themselves. It smacks of a lack of decency to have done things this way. On the other hand, I applaud the CBN for forcing the hand of the banks where they've been running the business to the detriment of the stakeholders i.e depositors, shareholders, employees, and the customers. There needs to be an overhaul of the corporate governance culture within the banks and they need to be taught the importance of effective and timely risk management in the financial sector, all countries are learning this and implementing them too. I truly hope his decisive steps work out well in the long run cos it could go really bad. We'll just have to wait and see.

Nobody should blame Ayo and Odediran for their cynicism. This is Nigeria, the land of anything goes. However, I have no doubt that for once Doubting Thomases will be proved wrong. Sanusi is the right man in the right place at the right time. A man with nothing to do but do the right thing and live up to his father's good name. Let us mark Prof. Hindu's words and read Sanusi's speech carefully. Atedo Peter side led a committee that produced a seminal report on corporate governance in quoted companies. Now is the time to unearth that report from where it was hidden. Sanusi will earn Nigeria some of that respect we are more than capable of earning....if we could only focus and be honest.

A tip of the iceberg! Worse things are happening in other sectors of the Nigeria economy. Mark my words, NEXT, I can tell you it's only an "ice-age" for the financial sector, as Sanusi will soon be arm twisted to stop every cleasing process (if it's real) as it was with case of El'Rufai (FCT), Ribadu (EFCC) and Dora ( NAFDAC). God help and bless Nigeria.

Where is RENCAP? And didn't Agusto & Co know something they ccould haave told us? Let's wait and understand

I am again worried that systemic collapse of lending might well be on the way. It is unfortunate that we move steps backward when we know how far behind we are. The biggest of our Banks are in shambles, expectedly the smaller ones will be worse hit. Why do it now? It'll take a few months for the acting CEO's to understand the dynamics of these firms...and their risk appetite will surely be at the lowest this period. Who suffers? I know Funke Osibodu, her astuteness has never been in doubt. She managed ECOBANK NIGERIA well and she's known for her conservatism, strictness and little knack for expansion. Hope she does well with UNION BANK. Sanusi must be mindful as Nuhu Ribadu did great to his peril. Nigerians hardly reward brevity, they'll let sentiments fill the process. My take is it is a little early to wield the big stick, Nigerian economy is too feeble to dismiss the mighty at a go, one step at a time....

We all have ideas which capture the essence of what has been achieved by CBN but please wait a mintue - who is being deceived here - the public,the international bodies or arrogant southerners who are so educated and exposed that the north continues to scheme and be patient for the right time to implement. Personal i agree the industry needs cleansing of this nature and once again i mention as an insider in this industry only about 3 banks can be out of the woods regarding Margin loans - GTB,ETB and Sterling. By virtue of size and longetivity only has First Bank escaped this - as for UBA,ZIB - without a doubt were on the list of those to be affected but yet once again i appreciate the strategy and effectiveness with which they have moved to ensure they escaped. For the ignorant people thinking two weeks isnt enough for the others to clean up - wake up what is the effect of this report - a run on the concerned banks and traditionally to favour who? First bank- the oldest,energetic amonsgt its peers and most rewarding stock on the NSE. The other angle that has been discretely mentioned is take over and forced mergers - the big will get bigger - be rest assured First bank will pick one of those banks when it becomes allowed and while UBA struggles to remain untocuhed will show interest also in a take over especially of those who have branches internationally. Another point for thot is - has the banking sector all been a lie? A yes and a No- we can not discount what soludo did with regards the consolidation - it was good but incomplete as there was no framework to monitor the effect of the funds which resulted in poor risk processing and managment of loans granted all for what? to ensure better return on investment by people like you and me and for show to teh international bodies that there is room to invest in our country.The yes answer is with regards no one questioning how the banks can be making such merger profits and no real impact in the real sector.A problem which both CBN and the government should be roped in together. This point then throws the question back to CBN- what happened to all the weekly,monthly,quaterly,half yearly and yearly reports sent to them not to mention the stay back inspections they also carry out- if Sanusi is standing out as a performer now then we have problem because the same staff who served over the last 15-20 years under different CBN leaderhip remain there and know the truth and how to manage some of the bad cases with SETTLEMENT. CBN really is the place to be - they are under the rader but make money from the banks to keep quiet or turn a blind eyes on some matters. This brings us back to the issue of Unity Bank - pls nigerians how many of their branches do you see or functioning as a ful or semifull pledged commerical bank?It is a northern bank supported by northern states and CBN partculary with reference to FX dealings - ask the BDC operators.Do you think the Naira just had a free fall late last year?think again NOPE- It is all a script you are watching to cover up the money gap fast as southerners are the real business people - call it buy and sell or import and sell and the currency was stable most fo teh last administration's tenure. The northers have always preferred no trouble at all but margins in currencies - so please someone Last before i go while many might dispise bankers and what the represent at least 80% of Nigerian families immediate and extended have been sustained by that banker whom everyone perceives as the rich man pushing them into a life of debts and NGOish to help rise the general standard of living in their respective families at teh expense of a real and quality life for themselves and their immeditae family of which many have health problems due to the nature of work. Back to CBN - what are they issuing as guidelines and work ethics of this industry - how many banks have gone down and people's years of service and gratuity not accounted for?What is the quality of bankers we have today - paper,foreign qualifications without applicability to our country - professional exams,membership of various associations or the real over the years learnt on the job,appropriate exposure and update with international happenings to be applied in the right context in our Nigerian situation? How many bankers in less than a 5 years career span have become Managers,Senior Managers and AGMS due to professional prositution and whta has become the reward for steady consistent growth in an organisation? Finally back to the public - everyone of us is as guility as the banks, CBN and the government - have we not benefitted from the bankers as friends,religious associates and family members?Have we querried these bank leaders when they worship or hang out with us - nope - we have treated them like the rich men we know got wealth through blood and stealing from government - by truning a blind eye and be-friending them. It si a Nigerian problem - We need to get our values system back!!!

Making any moves to save the Nigerian Banks from distress will be a welcome development, but not when the moves are with malicious intentions. Some Banks that were not affected are not in any way better than those affected. I think Sanusi is just trying to use his position to witch hunt some of his old rivals in the Banking sector. We all know this.Let him continue we shall see how he is going to end.Posterity will judge.

Guys! The moment of truth has come and Sanusi has just started. I have read many papers today just because of the views such as Ayo and Odediran. in fact I had expected the Militants to issue statements of threat and derailment of amnesty if the removed COEs are not reinstated immediately. I agree that the so called rating authourity has not done well and we should do something about them, but hey, this is the Nigerian culture. have you see people dance around the worst leaders be they Governors, ministers etc and the only time we know the real truth of their person is after their tenure or removal so it is branding thing giving a lot of money to the organisation involved. You need to read the current branding of Ibru even in Mackinsey & Co, head or tail, the foreigners make more money. For people querrying the action and the timing, I do not think the argument is rational if directed to Sanusi. the greatest culprit is Soludo. He knew the fact and details but decided not to at because according to him that would overheat the polity. What what advised is to try moral persuasion of the debtors as if the man never read about Unoka in things Fall Apart by his kinsman, would that ever work. You could see that even the law courts were not used to cahse them for the same reason and again, you would cry at the level of collusion and negligence by the bankers..nothing concrete to realise by way of security. Don't be surprised if some of the documentation are missing. These CEO's have not done well. For those apprehensive and raising unnecessary sentiments of sanusi targeting some people, please let us grow up. This is not Sanusi but Nigerian CBN, Nigerian banks, Nigerian Depositors, employees and in fact you and I. I am also waiting for the Luku Maus... Those who are CEO's and buy houses which were leased to the banks, tose taking customers deposits and invested them in selling cars in mile 2 etc and cotonou to make big profits. those buying boat crafts etc because they are bank CEOs haba. Let us all speak with one voice that the proper things be done. After their removal, then who are the debtors? Did the bank offiials follow lay down procedure for loans, where are their securities... those houses in Lekki, Portharcourt, Abuja, banana Island should be sold to recoup some fraction of the money. Proper due diligence experts should be called in to recover their properties abroad. We do not deserve this as a nation and the irony of life is that your guess is as good as mine as these are the same persons constituting board members of visions 2010, 2020 2050 and other blurred visions of an unserious regime. RAIN IS ABOUT TO FALL IN NIGERIA.

KAFFY: by injecting N405b into those five banks (which reportedly had negative capital), the CBN effectively became the majority equity holders in these banks, and will remain so until these banks can attract fresh private capital (from local or foreign investors) and retire the CBN's holding. As majority holders, the CBN essentially voted off each of those top management.

Coup to change ownership of banks! Nigerians must wake up from their deep slumber. Sanusi’s real objective is to forcefully change the ownership structure of Nigerian banks. What he has just done is premeditated, as he was the arrowhead of the demarketing campaign in the banking industry last year. My countrymen and women, ponder over the following: 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 banks to show them the results of the so-called audit and ask them how they think they could solve the problem; for xample, giving them a deadline to recapitalise? Why wield the axe so soon? These are indications that Sanusi is following a script. He says CBN will call local and international investors to invest in the banks. Why not allow the banks themselves to look for the investors? 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. What Sanusi has just done must be linked with what his people are doing in other sectors of the economy where they’re edging other Nigerians out, such as in the oil and gas industry. What Yaradua is implementing is the 2nd phase of the Sokoto Jihad. Fulanis want to dominate all facets of life in Nigeria. They’re no longer ready to leave any sector for Southerners. Mark my words, time is at the door!

Having just read the article and all the comments i think the core issue a la corporate governance all boils down to the people at the helm of affairs. God knows how long this has been going on...Soludo must have been involved in cover up one way or another. Once again the high and mighty are toying with the means and livelihood of the masses

Good job Sanusi. Definately a step in the right direction. The banking sector has been seating on rot for a long time now. It is sad to say the Nigerian press has contributed to the whole facade. Some of these CEOs were being profiled as mavericks and given meaningless awards just a few months ago. My fear has been expressed by Imhomoh that some powerful big wigs are likely to truncate this much needed clean up. I hope the SEC in watching closely. The Nigeria Stock Exchange needs a major overhaul starting with the so called "Iron Lady".

I do not subscibe to all this North against South issue but i do agree that what was reported in WSJ and i quote "The five banks had been near total collapse before the central bank's intervention, Mr. Sanusi said. He indicated the government wasn't interested in keeping stakes taken in the banks in exchange for the recapitalization. Instead, he suggested he would encourage new investors to strengthen balance sheets further." Then the whole excersice is warped and it lend credence to my earlier assertion that this whole process is not being handle very well.CBN should have started this process in-house by firing all those who have supervisory role but did not do their duty. In addition this is a process of selling of banks through the back door is righ

Akeem, your conspiracy thesis fails on one point: Sanusi's statement actually made it quite clear that if the original owners of the five banks come up with the requisite new capital, the CBN will gladly hand the banks back to them.

SULLY: Since I cannot think of anywhere else where the rating agencies have "done well" lately, I think it is entirely incorrect to ascribe it to "Nigerian culture". Nevertheless (as I previously noted), once the value of shares on the NSE fell by over 60%, the collateralization that such shares provided for margin loans became largely worthless. Similarly, with the crash in oil prices and the simultaneous fall in the value of the Naira, even collateralized loans to oil marketers became highly stressed. Effectively, the primary fault of these banks were in their CONCENTRATION of credit (for which one cannot really blame them since these sectors were extremely profitable), but an effective regulator (the CBN) or regulatory system should have anticipated and prevented such concentration risks.

The action of the CBN is not in the interest of any populace. This is a free market where companies are at liberty to take risks. The extent of the risk is left to the enterpreneuer. First bank was not in anyway shielded from gross misconduct and this is an obvious attack against a long standing list of bankers that have simply changed the face of banking in this country. The current liquidity problem is not a Nigerian issue but a global one. There were boom times and the banks have judiciously taken risks to cash in during that boom. Salaries of many bankers were increased and a lot of capital gains accrued from this banks' actions. The global meltdown as affected all and sundry round the world. It is very cynical to now wake up and start being punitive and completely attributing it to a local factor. No one will walk into the stock market and sack any head of Stock Exchange company for loosing money. It is business and they will take risks. CBN wields too much power and you will all see eventually that this is not in anyone's interest. It is quite personal.

It amazing how the initial sanction had to come from the Regulator!!!!!! What were the shareholders of these institutions looking at? One must indeed also question the role and responsibilities of our numerous shareholders' associations if they cannot question the actions of their boards. These companies belong to the shareholders and they apparently seem to have all gone to sleep. Well done CBN Governor. We need more like you.

"We need to get our values system back!!!" That is the perfect shot. WE HAVE TO GET OUR VALUES SYSTEM BACK! WE NEED TO GET OUR VALUE SYSTEM BACK!! WE NEED TO GET OUR VALUE SYSTEM BACK!!! This should be said over and over until it goes beyond a slogan to become a pursuit, a national goal.

@RWS. You make an excellent point about a need for the SEC to beef up its oversight role, but the NSE is a quasi-regulatory body itself. Its recent actions, with the acquiescence of the SEC, demonstrate that it is incapable of self-regulation. Prior to this, the listing of Transcorp, among other conflicts of interest, demonstrate that the exchange itself is riddled with corporate governance problems. @Baba Alokolaro. True words. The thing is that we have so personalized business here that shareholders don't seem to understand their rights. And where the major shareholders are themselves beneficiaries of insider loans, etc - in clear contradiction of CAMA rules - what do we expect? As for those jokes called "shareholder associations", the less said the better. As for those who want to read this just as an ethnic agenda, good luck to you. I for one will never subscribe to the validity of a thief offering as his defense that other thieves have yet to be caught. One thing that is key is for CBN to give FULL disclosure on the findings at these and other banks. Indeed, the CBN's periodic disclosures and audits should be publicly available (and the financial press should highlight these). To the extent that ratings agencies have colluded in misrepresenting the figures and giving a veneer of credibility to cooked books (Fitch and Intercontinental come to mind for further investigation), they should be the subject of shareholder, depositor, and creditor lawsuits. And all those publications that specialize in issuing rubbish awards to these criminals should really be reined in. Truth in advertising should force them to change their award categories to "Best dressed bank CEO" or "Bank with the most willing call girls," or simply "Bank who paid our publisher the most money."

It is time to remember Pastor Agbetuyi of Omega Bank that all the hype profit been rooled out by the banks are just paper profit. How can banks keep declering huge profit when all industries in the country are either dead or in state of coma, epleptic NEPA , corruption all over the place. May God help us out

I salute Governor Sanusi. His is a profile in courage and action. I commend because his is a breath of fresh air in a polluted regulatory environment. Before his next strike, he should pray Mr President to appoint new Board members for the CBN! Those who did NOT see anything wrong in the numbers that jolted Sanusi to action are sitting pretty well on the Board. where were they? They should resign in shame. Oh Nigeria, where has dignity and self worth gone to? Mr President, give Governor Sanusi a new CBN Board not tainted by directors who looked the other way as those CEOs managed their banks into the gutters. Free CBN from regulatory capture which fosters regulatory forebearance; and the Nigerian banks will sit up. That is the panacea for curing the malady in the nation's banking industry.

I believe the CBN has good intentions but is it not possible that the actions taken are a bit drastic? It may be percieved wrongly by the general public. Many believe the banks are failed banks already which I doubt is the case. No doubt that with the trend up till now, many of them would have failed but the public perception is way off I think.

Thank you Mr. Sanusi, PLEASE LET NOT THE POOR SURVER ANYMORE. DONT CLOSE THEM BUT REMOVE THE BAD EGGS. THANK YOU.

I personally agree with Ayo and Kaffy on there disagreement on the Governor action some Body him Mr. Sanusi some one with rough mindset can not run such affairs

This is a moment of truth. We need a man like Mr. Sanusi the CNB boss to sanitize our financial field in this country. I expect more truths and consequent actions.

Isn't this a welcome development? How much more could we ask from the CBN Chief than for him to dig even deeper in order to excavate the rotten bones called bank MDs in the sector. And let's not forget in a hurry the chief culprit of the matter in the person of Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, who condoned the ills that were perpetrated in the banking sector during his tenure; who also was credited with the statement that 70% of Nigerian graduates were unemployable and of whom it was said graduated from UNN with a first Class degree in Economics ( and it is most certain that these words, 'HE WAS FOUND WORTHY IN BOTH CHARACTER AND LEARNING', ardone his certificate). what a shame! what an irony!!. What will be his next statement now? will he shamefacedly admit that it is actually 70% of the graduate of his generation that are wanting in character and adequate/proper leraning. Let him be forced out of retirement or whereever he is to answer and be made to pay for his sins. Let him not retire in peace.

Isn't this a welcome development? How much more could we ask from the CBN Chief than for him to dig even deeper in order to excavate the rotten bones called bank MDs in the sector. And let's not forget in hurry the chief culprit of the matter in the person of Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, who condoned the ills that were perpetrated in the banking sector during his tenure; who also was credited with the statement that 70% of Nigerian graduates were unemployable and of whom it was said graduated from UNN with a first Class degree in Economics ( and it is most certain that these words, 'HE WAS FOUND WORTHY IN BOTH CHARACTER AND LEARNING', ardone his certificate). what a shame! what an irony!! What will be his next statement now? will he shamefacedly admit that it is actually 70% of the graduate of his generation that are wanting in character and adequate/proper leraning. Let him be forced out of retirement to answer and be made to pay for his sins. Let him not retire in peace.

Our banks need redemption. What has just happenned is next to greater woes. The only solution is for the leaders to be sincere, honest, and accountable. Afterall the woes in the banking industry is traceable to the politicians. CBN should checkmate this too...

This is the time for evry banker to think twice about this job,u wake up early in the morning work throughout the day,looking for deposit that some people will collect an dwill not pay back,and someone will later tell you that you are not performing,goverment too is not helping the matter,they are not 100% sincere about the whole issue,l think we need God intervention to safe this country.

i believe the action of the CBN governor is an action commendable, because its high time sanity is brought into the banking system...i hope the faces behind this mess will be brought to book,,,,,,,,,,,,

It is too early to judge Sanusi. I think we must give him the benefit of doubt. Unless if the Fulanis have got money between 2007 to 2009, the would not be able to buy the 5 banks whose MDs have been sacked. I doubt very much if Sanusi's action on the 5 banks has been informed by anything other than the national interest. I therefore doubt the conspiracy theory being bandied about to interprete what Sanusi has done. Those MDs and a lot of Nigerians know that our banks are still being mimanaged. Their leaders were not playing by the rules. Unless the banks hve sound leadership and practices, they will continue to damage the economy and Sanusi will never allow this. Even Soludo had hinted on this before he left, that some of the banks were still weak and so needed mergers to survive. Sanusi has to do what is necessary to save these banks and safeguard the economy, no matter whose ox will be gored. No amount of evil suspicion will distract him. Let him be judged after he leaves please.

My main joy here is the disclosure of facts however its too early for the clear picture. Agenda or plain service. 234next well done n I hope ur impending success does not comprise ur integrity

You guys at 234Next are doing an excellent work. In a field polluted with disgusting praise-worshipping and bvttl-licking, you guys are a breath of fresh air. On the banking crisis and the expulsion of five CEOs, I have read the comments on your publication about how Sanusi is being tainted as running a Northern agenda. I mean, the facts are on ground that these banks were at the brink of failing... most likely, there would be others to require this sanitization. However, it is preposterous if not absurd for anyone to bring up tribal sentiments in this guys action. I just hope that the CBN does not stop at just ejecting these CEOs, but also go after the "rich" individuals who held these banks to ransome through their acquisition of bad loans. The surprising thing is that Soludo could not have claimed ignorance to these, and I was here crying over the end of his tenure. My only fear is that in Nigeria, people like Sanusi that start well end up in one of two ways: Either he is eventually forced out of the place (Nuhu Ribadu and El-Rufai) OR he is watered down and he becomes just one of them (Soludo, Dora Akunyili come to mind). I wish him well.

I need an intelligent analysis on d importance of this agenda on share prices. In all honesty,this could be a form of salvation Cum northern Coup.

guys i have read all your comments, but there is on ommitted facts here which is how can 3 customers of a bank borrow 35 billion naira without collateral, i mean this big fraud on the highest scale, also you have a situation when this people just go to the market and start collecting money from innocent people, look i have been trading shares since i was 12 years old and i could remember in the late 80's when this market was real and calm and all of a sudden for the past 5years everything just went like a wild bush fire and another thing that contributed to this problem is the mentality of nigerians themselves, they have this tokunbo mentality that anything that is in vogue is for everyone to rush in, stock markets are very complicated and shophiticated market that are meant for fund managers, pension schemes and co not for someone who buys today and the want to buy bread tommorrow and they sell again. in the case of this debtors and this useless bankers, a lot needs to be done because before you know it another woodlump industry will start profiting(i mean hired assasins), why did i say that, the banking industry is the major employer in nigeria, now if this all this people loss their jobs, and the depositors loss all there life savings and the shareholders are wiped out, i leave the rest to your imagination.

Let banks stop enslaving graduates by contracting jobs with other organisations.And those who have been enslaved get emancipated no matter what you have as qualification because we discover that larger percentage of banks walkers nowadays are placed on contract in which they are paying with toking amount which cannot feed there on mouth not alone of there family.Please central bank should look into this as well.God bless Nigeria, this is new beginning.

Mr Sanusi Lamido, more greece to your elbow, you guy has done a marvulous job, keep it up and look into enslavery of staffs by nigeria banks.Thanks a lot.

Fellow Nigerians, let's open our eyes and put on our thinking caps. The latest CBN move has little to do with our national interests. There are many red flags in this hurried move, right before election year, that we would be the biggest fools if we refuse to see Sanusi as another tool in the big game our elite politicians play to stay in power and keep their hands in the honey pot of stolen oil money. Here are serious points to consider as we all try to make sense of the CBN's latest move: 1) Why didn't Sanusi wait until he had finished "testing" all 25 banks before hastily firing the 5 MDs? 2) Why pick these 5 as scape goats? Very few of the banks (about three or so) were not substantially decimated by margin lending. They weren't much worse than the rest of the banks. 3) Why didn't Sanusi explore other alternatives before the forced take-over? Like many have rightly pointed out, why didn't he wait for the companies to conduct their own fund-raising? When the US Treasury bailed out US banks, they all got the chance to raise capital on their own and most of the banks kept their management. 4) Most of the acting MDs Sanusi has appointed to take over these banks have terrible track records. I know for a fact that Lai Alabi gave himself a N50 million severance package for the 3 months of work he did at Wema Bank. Imagine that, N50 million for 3 months of work!!! Oh, he also left with 3 official cars. Just go asking senior people in the banking industry about these people - they are big-time crooks, all of them. These acting MDs are even worse than the sacked ones! 5) Was this really the best option for getting these banks on their feet? He not only fired the CEO's but also fired all the Executive Directors. These are the people that know the most about the banks. Wouldn't it have made more sense for the government to bring in external auditors and rolled out an orderly transparent process of rehabilitating these banks? This sudden decapcitating smells of a dirty political move. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever otherwise. 6) Most of the sacked bankers had very close relationships to Obasanjo and his regime. What did Akingbola do when he got word of his impending dismissal? He high-tailed it to Otta to see OBJ befor submitting his resignation letter. Is this a coincidence? The sixth point is probably the most important one. Nigeria is completely enthralled to a powerful elite class. Members of this class don't step on each other's toes publicly unless they've declared war on each other. Next year is election year, so it's war time. Nigeria's vast corrupt and violent political machine is kicking itself into overdrive. The various parties and factions are spending sleepless nights strategizing and plotting to overthrow Yar'Adua's useless do-nothing government. Papa Yar'Adua, God bless his frail but greedy old heart, wants to stay for another term. He's hurriedly getting things in place to secure his run for next year. Dangote as the head of the NSE? Wasn't he found guilty of manipulating this same Stock Exchange? Only in Nigeria can this nonsense happen! I bet you Dangote switched alliegiances (because OBJ sided with Otedola) and has already made a fat donation to Yar'Adua's re-electon war-chest. Here comes the real political intrigue. Yar'Adua has consistently shamed and defied Obasanjo, biting the very hands that gave him the job. Obasanjo and many other big boys in PDP don't want Yar'Adua for a second term so PDP is now at war with itself. This is only the beginning of heads rolling. Yar'Adua will continue to systematically block every funding avenue for Obasanjo and his buddies (you think Atiku's recent make-up with OBJ and his recent visit to Otta was for play?!). Let's think rationally about the events of the past few months in the banking sector. It appears that Yar'Adua, through CBN, has systematically overthrown the top management of several top banks (almost all of them linked in some way to Obasanjo) and put in his own people. I am really curious to see who got all those MEGA loans from these five banks. It wouldn't shock me at all if those loans went towards funding Obasanjo's failed bid for a third term. It would make sense given that none of those loans were collaterized and of course since OBJ's bid failed, the banks couldn't get paid back with the anticipated loot from OBJ's third term. Of course, this is all conjecture but one thing I am 100% sure about is that the dismissals are 100% political. It might not be a North vs. South political move... but it's DEFINITELY political and most likely a Yar'Adua vs. Obasanjo et. al move. Let's all watch events unfold. It's going to be a very interesting few weeks. Will Yar'Adua sell off the banks to "foreign" investors for kick-backs to help fund his second term bid? I mean, he's going to need LOTS of money to buy the votes because no Nigerian with common sense would vote for his good-for-nothing government again. Will Obasanjo's cronies take the punches without fighting back? Does anyone really think the legendary Mrs. Ibru will let her baby, the bank she single-handedly built into a powerhouse, go just like that without a fight? You think the Doyenne of one of the oldest and most powerful business families in Africa will take that blow without a full-scale battle? Poor Sanusi... He is getting played like a pawn in the corrupt chess game of Nigerian politics.

There is no gainsaying that Sanusi has started very well. As an insider, i saw this coming but how soon was what i could not say. I have had the opportunity of meeting with these regulatory bodies and i saw how dishonest they are to the Govt and unfair to the populace. They collect 'kickbacks' and give "polished" report about banks they visit. Sanusi, i want to say without mincing words that its going to be a gross misconduct too if you fail to weild your stick of objectivity and professionaliism to Unity bank,i will see you as a vey sentimental person.Observers are seriously worried. As an advice to Sanusi,if there is anything you can do to overhaul the workforce in these regualtory bodies, please do.Else, they will soil your good work. Nigerians expect more.

Good job from CBN, this has actually showed how rotten our banking system is. We hope this will be a good beginning for our banking sector.

Fellow country men & Women, it will be too early to rate any individual wether Sanusi or any other culprit....Time will tell. Someone somewhere has hidden moves, already the drama is about to begin.......... & very soon it will be 'THE END' and the secrets of the hunter too will be let loosed. You & I just need to keep on believing that one day the right man will be at the head of affairs. Will you be the right one, will I be the one? or would you choose the part of the hungary-dangerous lions who takes nothing out of this vain world at their depature? Time will tell..........

i guess some people screaming about the north conspiracy have not had all or most of their life savings gone over night. i've experienced it with fortune bank and till date after over 4 years i've not gotten my money back. with this i say a good job sanusi at least depositors have a chance to withdraw some if not all their monies run. these banks misuse depositors funds and get away with it if the banks had gone under depositors would have been left hanging and the so called md would have gone scot free. so my advise if you have money in those banks pack them up and run

Would have loved to read most of the comments here but for the grammar and spelling mistakes. People, take your time to type correctly....we are not sending text messages

kudos to sanusi.but pls come to our rescue.most of us working in the bank that r used as contracct staffs r graduate for crying out loud.they shld stop using us as slaves n convert us to permanent staff bcos we do most of the work while the so-called permanent staffs r just colecting salary without work

Audit was done for 10 banks out of 24 n 5 banks have got that much debt profile!!! Realy, where was C B N all along? Nigeria is a big joke.

@Mustapha B. President might as well turn back on SLS and I hear there is a vacancy in CBN for Governor's position

I have already seen it somethere... Charlie

In every country,there must be consequences for bad behaviour.