Whose job is it anyway

The country is still reeling from the news of the sacked bank chiefs. Things in the country have not been the same since the announcement was made a few months ago. Consequently, several interesting developments have risen out of the unfortunate situation.

While the recovery efforts of the EFCC were widely applauded, the sun eventually went down on the anti-graft agency when it was alleged that a 10 per cent ‘finder’s fee’, so to speak, was deducted from every amount recovered. This ‘agency commission’ is standard procedure amongst estate agents, so the word ‘agent’ might be from whence the confusion stems but if there is any truth to the allegations, then it is an illegal collection on behalf of the people of Nigeria. Thanks but no thanks. The irony is how a law enforcement agency is seemingly breaking the law under the guise of doing their job a bit too effectively, perhaps. Who really knows?

Well, last week, it was reported that another major player in this game of “Catch the Bank Thieves” the Central Bank of Nigeria, is getting the lines between call of duty and “over syllabus” - as Nigerians love to say, referring to going beyond the call of duty without being primed - blurred as well. Like the debt collecting body “collecting” a little something themselves for their efforts, the CBN appears to have transformed into the CID - or CIA, perhaps - in the execution of their duties.

The report in question states that the CBN traced 60 (count them) shops in prime travel destination, Dubai, to one of the sacked bank chiefs. While kudos must be given to the CBN for latching onto the trail, the governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s declaration that: “We are just not following the money, we are also following the property and we are going to pursue everything and bring it back to the country with the support of the international community” seems to be stepping into espionage territory. The CBN’s primary function is banking supervision, which would include monitoring the activities of the bank chiefs, thus making the discovery of these shops - by following the money - within their jurisdiction.

However, pursuing the money and bringing it back to Nigeria seems to be going one step too far. Ideally, the Central Bank needs to report its findings to the requisite law enforcement agents, for example, the EFCC, to take on this pursuit, recovery and return operation, that it seems to be undertaking personally.

Where the CBN’s scope of operation should end is reporting the case, providing evidence and submitting whatever additional information may be required after the fact. Surely, the governing body has other areas to which it could direct its attention, like its planned legal action against the sacked Intercontinental Bank chief executive, Erastus Akingbola who has so far been on the run. Even the pursuit of that pending case has to be handled appropriately. According to Sanusi, “We have filed the charges in the court and we have also prepared charges against one or two of the management staff of the bank; they will be brought to the court.” To that effect, they have played their part and once again, it is over to the long arm of the law to address.

This misinterpretation - or misappropriation, as the case may be - of duties goes a long way in highlighting a prevailing Achilles heel in our nation’s functional makeup. People just do not do what they are supposed to, instead, they wade in the waters of their neighbours pools, more often than not uninvited. It is easy to point fingers, hailing these moves as diversionary tactics, when in fact; it may be an actual cry for help due to the shortcomings or outright inability of those charged with certain responsibilities to carry them out. Instead of waiting for law enforcement who might have ignored the warning signals in the first place, is the CBN trying to take matters into its own hands in hopes to expediently resolve these problems?

Sadly, this falls into the boiling cauldron of our ailing reality; so many questions and no answers.