NO fewer than seven more banks may come under the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) hammer, as the apex bank is set to announce the completion of the audit exercise conducted on another set of 11 banks.

According to a dependable source at the apex bank, the CBN Governor, Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, will this week announce the full results of the examination exercise which ended last week, adding that more bank chief executives would be affected.

He explained that the CBN auditors made startling discoveries on the level of rot in the banks, stating that the bank chiefs were involved in insider abuses, coupled with breach of corporate governance in their respective banks.


The source further said that the level of non-performing loans discovered in the first round of the audit report was small compared with that of the 11 banks that had just been audited.


The source also confirmed to the Nigerian Tribune that the announcement was being delayed because of last week’s London roadshow embarked upon by top officials of the CBN, adding that Sanusi had promised to submit the report to President Yar’Adua this week before taking a final decision.


Further investigations revealed that the apex bank was highly agitated as further removal of CEOs might cause a run on the banking system. Nigerian Tribune gathered that that some of the banks’ top executives who were in the know of the latest developments were making desperate moves to ensure the report did not see the light of day.