RIYENEWS@.COM


Even as Lamido Sanusi, head honcho of the Central Bank of Nigeria, continues to strongly deny allegations that he is pursuing a Northern agenda to wrest economic power from the South, the charge persists because of a mainstream media that is largely controlled by the South and has been echoing the interests of the owners.

The overriding question that the mainstream media is yet to answer is what economic power does Southern Nigeria have in the first instance that Sanusi, as a consequence of trying to save Nigeria’s financial system from collapse, is trying to take away? Who controls the oil industry? Which oligarchy dominates the food, textile and cement industries? Which ethnic group controls the Federal civil service? How about the transport or trucking industry? The answer is the North. Can anyone deny that Alhaji Aliko Dangote, who seems to have a hand in every economic pie in this country, is the richest man in Nigeria today? All the pretenders in the South feed off from Dangote and that is a fact.

The truth is that southern businessmen and bank MDs caught in Sanusi’s vortex of sanitization are simply victims of greed and nothing more. Notice how the debtors have been running to the EFCC to pay up their debt, obviously dreading a few days in detention? At the last count, the EFCC had recovered over 45 billion naira within a week! By the way, one of the major debtors in the whole scandal is guess who? Aliko Dangote!

There are those who argue that the contraption known as Nigeria can never become a nation until fundamental rights, equality, the pursuit of happiness and prosperity are guaranteed for every citizen no matter his tribe or religion. This is true, but one will hasten to add that sectional interests must also give way for the national interest. Until we stop hiding behind the curtains of ethnic bigotry whenever we are in trouble, we will not move forward as a nation. Some people have been charged with a very grave offence. Let them deal with it and stop dragging their kinfolk, most of whom they exploited to get rich, into it.

Until a few months ago, a man who goes by the name Chukwuma Soludo, from the Eastern part of Nigeria was Governor of the Central bank of Nigeria. Soludo ensured that most MDs of banks were from the South East or South South and we did not hear a word from other parts of the country. Go through the list of banks in Nigeria; from Access bank to Zenith, 80% of MDs were from the South East or South South. Even after Sanusi’s Tsunami, the replacements are still mainly from the South. Besides, being a bank MD does not necessarily translate into controlling the economy. What about those who actually own the money in the vaults? As for the debtors, it is true that most of them are Southerners, but are they really the movers and shakers of Nigeria’s economy today? Why are they the major debtors? Even Asians have more control of Nigeria’s economy than Southerners.

To be sure, there was a time in this country when businessmen and women from the south really[/b] controlled the economic levers of Nigeria. That was in the First Republic. The South West had cocoa and palm oil that the Marketing Boards ensured earned the region optimal price in world markets, while farmers and traders got what they deserved. There was a highly educated citizenry, an efficient and responsible civil service that took over from the colonialists and a vibrant economy that was the envy of African countries. Western Region of Nigeria, as it was known then, had balanced budgets annually and a healthy foreign reserve. The Region’s television and radio stations, with the acronym; WNBS/WNBC [b][/b]had the slogan; [b]First in Africa[i][/i].

Eastern Nigeria was equally independent economically. Commerce and entrepreneurship flowed in the East. Education was first rate and there was a middle class. There was self sufficiency in food and cash crops were exported. The North had its own fair share of economic power, but not close to what the South had. No wonder the late Sadaunna of Sokoto Ahamdu Bello said that the North was not ready for independence in 1953.

Sanusi is doing a good job that has nothing to do with ethnicity or a Northern agenda and for people to allege such is hypocritical and a disservice to nation building. Like a Mafia hitman would say; it is nothing personal, it is just business.

Ethnicity has nothing to do with cleaning house in the Nigerian financial sector. Nigerians are always quick to hide under the the cover of ethnic or religious affiliation. Corruption and mismanagement in the banking sector have no ethnic or religious exclusivity. It had been an open secret for a while that the Nigerian banking sector was living on borrowed time but Mr Soludo did not or could not do anything about it.

Nigerian banks decided to become Las Vegas casinos by gambling with shareholders funds in the highly speculative equities markets. Banks started acting as brokerage houses by giving out risky loans to friends and families to gamble in the stock market. While the share values of these banks have crashed they continue to report phanthom profits based on unconventional accounting standards.

Nigeria has too many banks based on the size of her GDP. These banks are now for the most part illegal currency speculators- does round tripping sound familiar. It is time to restore some sanity and confidence to the banking sector. Go Sanusi.