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Jonathan versus Sanusi: Who is advising the president?

The presidency has not denied reports that President Goodluck Jonathan wants the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, to resign. Perhaps they wait to see how the kite they are flying over the matter would soar before a statement is made denying or confirming the stance of the president. There is, however, no doubt that the presidency was unhappy that a letter written by the CBN governor alleging that the NNPC failed to remit over $48 billion to the federation account was leaked to the media. After reconciling accounts and suggesting that only about $10 billion remained creatively unaccounted for, the presidency is sanctimoniously gunning for the head of Mallam Sanusi. It is doubly strange that a presidency that permissively winked at the huge indiscretion of the Aviation minister, Stella Oduah, over the scandalous purchase of two bulletproof cars can ferociously pursue a CBN governor that waited for almost three months for the president to compel the NNPC to explain its clumsy bookkeeping.

The Jonathan presidency is inoculated against logic, maturity and restraint. It has long appeared incapable of appreciating insults as it has been unable to understand how badly its officials, especially the president himself, damage the image and prestige of the presidency. It is still mired in the Ms Oduah scandal, and cannot extricate itself from the highly damaging impact of its misstep on the Justice Ayo Salami matter. Now it is plunging heedlessly into another self-created fray. If the president had immediately responded to the CBN governor’s September, 2013 letter and directed the NNPC and the Ministry of Finance to join Mallam Sanusi in resolving the matter, there would not have been a controversy, let alone a leaked letter. The Sanusi controversy is evidentially the creation of a slothful presidency.

To worsen a very bad situation, the president is leaning on the CBN governor, who is due to retire in June, to quit immediately. Mallam Sanusi has of course not emerged from the letter controversy unscathed. In writing a misleading letter to the president, he had acted most impetuously. However the public rebuke he has received and the interminable snigger his arithmetical flight of fancy has elicited have unnerved everybody and affected the huge respect he has accumulated since he assumed office and made the CBN top post a very visible one. It is likely the president guessed Mallam Sanusi had lost the respect associated with that office, and believed he had become so vulnerable as to be unable to resist a sack. But against a presidency completely shorn of respect and gravitas, one that is now without a moral compass of any sort, not to talk of democratic or social values, Mallam Sanusi was always likely to receive fairer hearing and support, if not benefit of the doubt.

The advisory unit of the Jonathan presidency and his entire cabinet are dismissed as third-rate. But even then, surely he could still have found a few among the uninspiring number to advise him against the misbegotten pursuit of the wounded CBN governor. From all indications, Dr Jonathan will end up appearing to persecute Mallam Sanusi. Neither he nor his cabinet, it is clear, had inspired anyone. Now, for a matter that should be left to resolve itself or die a natural death, this uninspiring government is set to make a bad situation worse and further rubbish the little prestige left in the Nigerian presidency. Indeed, if Mallam Sanusi does not heed the president’s advice to resign, it is inconceivable that Dr Jonathan can find the muscle to force him out, or secure the number in the fractured and dispirited Senate to unhorse him.

January 12, 2014
Tunde Lemo set to bow out

If reports from the corridors of Central Bank are anything to go by, the Deputy Governor of the Nigeria’s apex bank, Tunde Lemo, will bow out of the bank he has served for a decade a few days from now. News of Lemo’s imminent exit emerged about five months to the expiration of the tenure of the Governor of Central Bank, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

The Ogun State-born Head of Operations at the apex bank, who was appointed the Deputy Governor on January 1, 2004, is due to quit on January 15. He is said to be the oldest member of the current board of the CBN.

It will be recalled that Lemo was reported to be nursing a political ambition in 2011 and that it was a matter of time that he would turn in his resignation letter to pursue his ambition. His alleged governorship ambition on the platform of the Peoples’ Democratic Party was even rumoured to have received the blessings of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Reports said he had a change of mind when it became obvious that the PDP had already anointed another candidate in the person of Gen. Tunji Olurin (rtd).

Prior to his appointment as the Deputy Governor of CBN, Lemo was the MD/CEO of Wema Bank, which was then ranked as one of the 10 most profitable commercial banks in Nigeria, between 2000 and 2003. With 2015 around the corner, it is not clear if Lemo will be exhuming his buried political ambition.

January 11, 2014
CBN confirms Sanusi’s June 2 exit

Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday confirmed Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi will leave office on June 2 this year.

Speaking to journalists at the end of a press briefing on the execution of the Payments System Vision 2020 (PSV2020) Strategy, in Abuja, the CBN’s spokesman Mr. Ugo Okoroafor, said Sanusi held a “family meeting” with staff of the bank and told them that he was no longer proceeding on “terminal leave” but will serve out his tenure in office as CBN governor till June 2.

Reports indicated that the CBN governor had agreed to proceed on “terminal leave” in March following the fiasco generated by the report of the allegedly missing $49.8 billion that was supposed to have accrued to the federation account.

However, Okoroafor, has dismissed the report, saying the “terminal leave” if it was ever in the offing was no longer feasible as Sanusi has resolved to leave office in June 2.

Earlier, the apex bank’s outgoing Deputy Governor, Operations, Mr. Tunde Lemo, declined to speak on his expected exit from office on Friday, but disclosed that the CBN has put into live operations, a new Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, integrated with a Scripless Securities Settlement System (SSSS) system.

He noted that the new RTGS replaces one that was implemented seven years ago as part of the then CBN transformation programme code-named Project EAGLES.

January 9, 2014
Lemo bows out of CBN Friday

The Deputy Governor in charge of the Operations Directorate at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Babatunde Olakunle Lemo, will retire from the apex bank tomorrow on Friday, after serving two full terms of five years.

A statement from the CBN said Lemo’s retirement takes effect from January 11.

“Lemo is expected to be pulled out of service on Friday, being the last working day before his retirement date,” the statement said.

Prior to his appointment as a Deputy Governor in CBN in 2003, Lemo was the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Wema Bank Nigeria, Plc between 2000 and 2003.

He was born in 1959, and he attended Lisabi Grammar School, Ogun State and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he emerged as the best overall graduating student in the Faculty of Social Sciences with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy (First Class Division) in 1984.

He attended Advanced Management Programme (AMP) at the Wharton College, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States in 2002 as well as executive training programmes in world class institutions including Harvard University, INSEAD, Fontainbleau, France and Brandies University, Boston.

The retiring Deputy Governor is credited with playing a key role in the implementation of the Banking Sector Consolidation resulting in the 24 stronger and well capaitalised banks with combined equity of over N1.6 trillion from 89 largely weak banks, formulation and implementation of the Microfinance Policy and Supervisory Framework both under the supervision of the Governor.

January 8, 2014
N54b cotton farming…A revolution under threat

The Federal Government claims to have released N54 billion to cotton farmers in 2012 to boost cotton production in the country. Assistant Editor SINA FADARE reports that the reality on ground shows that majority of the rural cotton farmers are excluded from the largesse and the expected target of 400,000 metric tons before the end of this year is a mere illusion.

In the early 80s, Nigeria was one of the highest producers of cotton in Africa. Cotton earned her about $8.9 billion annually. This amount, represented more than 25 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Today, the lofty dream has gone to the wind; the contribution of cotton to the GDP has dropped significantly to five per cent, bringing in a mere $300 million annually.

Regrettably, of the 51 ginneries, which were in operation across the country in the 1980s, only 10 are operating now and at low capacity. This worrisome situation has not only killed the moral of cotton farmers, most of them have diverted their energies and little resources to more productive crops in other to earn their living. The few left in the business are daily groaning about the poor government rescue mission on cotton farming.

In its Transformation Agenda, the Federal Government, in 2011, took a giant step to revive cotton farming when it procured 1.5m metric tonnes of pure and certified cotton seed for distribution to cotton farmers at a subsidised rate. The Minister of State for Agriculture, Alhaji Bukar Tijani, said the move was to launch Nigeria back to its glorious days of being the larger cotton producer in not only Africa but the world.

He added that the ministry, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and commercial banks would aid farmers, ginners and textile companies secure basic incentives through a certified agro-dealer from the banks via private venture capital.

The Minister then advised all the stakeholders to judiciously utilize the fund for the purpose intended as such loans can only be accessed upon collateral agreement entered in to with the individual farmers and the Banks.

The minister, who was a special guest at a seminar on cotton production in Gusau, Zamfara State, said the Federal Government had resolved to religiously pursue the new value chain programmes on both food and cash crops production, adding that the contamination level had been identified to be more of human error than organic. He said the government had devised technologies for arresting situations that led to the contamination of cotton.

In September 2012, the Federal Government released N54 billion to boost mass production of cotton in the country. Similarly, a stakeholder’s workshop was also held in Kaduna, where experts brainstormed on how to revive the moribund textile industries.

The Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Adewunmi Adesina, said 200,000 hectares would be acquired for the cultivation of cotton, directing that improved cotton seeds should be distributed to farmers.

To demonstrate its commitment to improve cotton production, the Federal Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the West African Cotton Company (WACOT) to revive cotton production in the country.

Adesina said the agreement with WACOT was to enhance the productivity of the ginneries from 150kg to 450kg of lint, while increasing the production of cotton seeds from 120,000 tonnes to 760,000 tonnes by next year.

He said: “A major component of the plan is to multiply and distribute quality seeds, while raising the quality of local lint through the use of appropriate packaging and cotton grading.”

The MoU signed between WACOT and the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources provides for, “increase seed cotton production to at least 400,000 metric tons over a period of four years with the use of Good Agricultural Practices, Certified Seeds, recommended dosage of Fertilisers, Bio-Fertilisers and Crop Protection Chemicals etc.

“The Client and Investor will produce adequate quantity of Breeder, Foundation Stage 1, Foundation Stage 11 and Certified Cotton Seed to achieve the seed cotton production of at least 400,000 metric tons over a period of four years.

“Increase the Export of Cotton lint by 100,000 metric tons over four years; provide best practices and processing techniques and market access for Nigerian cotton.”

As part of its obligation under the MoU, WACOT unveiled a new set of guidelines to cotton farmers, which would significantly advance the achievement of set targets. The guidelines covers land preparation, planting, fertiliser application, weed management, pest management and harvesting.

Regrettably, almost three years after the MoU has been signed and the release of the purported N54 billion by the Federal Government, the hope of achieving a 400,000 metric tonnes of cotton this year remain a mirage.

Investigation by The Nation revealed that far from the expected target, most of the incentives, particularly loans to the farmers, are not forth coming, therefore making the target of 400,000 metric tonnes by the end of this year and that of 760,000 metric tonnes in 2015 a mere dream.

A visit by The Nation to Orile

Ibara, Ilewo farm settle

ment, Owowo community in Ewekoro local government, Iwoye ketu and Olorunda in Ayetoro South local government of the state to interact with most of the cotton farmers in Ogun State revealed that most of the incentives claimed to have been released to the farmers are mere political statements. Majority of the farmers who spoke to The Nation claimed ignorant of such incentives

Lamenting the plight of the farmers, the Baale Ekerin of Orile Chief Raufu Oyetayo who has been an active farmer in the last 50years, said that pen farmers have robbed the rural authentic cotton farmers what belong to them in terms of incentive from government.

Oyetayo regretted that he, like other farmers, heard of the huge money voted for cotton farmers from the media, particularly the one allegedly released in 2012, “but as l am talking to you now, none of the cotton farmers in this farm settlement got a penny from the money.”

“When we got to the Bank of Industry and Agricultural Development Bank, they asked us to deposit 20 per cent of the intending loans we want to collect and follow up with chains of documentations, later the issue of collateral came in, before this was completed, the time of planting cotton has gone and after all the rigorous exercise, nothing came out of it because we did not hear anything from them again.”

Recounting his experience during the good old days of the western region, the octogenarian farmers pointed out that whatever the then government under Chief Obafemi Awolowo promised, the farmers got them as at when due even before the public are aware of such incentives.

“I could remember vividly how some of us got a soft loans to plant cassava and before the planting season, improved cassava stick were distributed to us a month before the planting season commenced and the proceed of what majority of the farmer made that year was so enormous that a lot bought vehicles and majority of the bachelors got married. That was how to assist farmers, not today that pen farmers took all the money away at the expense of the rural farmers.”

Another cotton farmer, Alhaji Musibau Adewale at Iwoye ketu village where the Ogun State government said it has acquired about 1000 hectares of land for cotton farming, said he has to abandon cotton farming for other crops, such as like cassava in order to make ends meet, He lamented that it is high time the government stop all the deceit in the media and approach the farmers directly through the language they could understand.

Adewale said if the government is sincere about reviving cotton farming, they know what to do to encourage the real farmers to plant cotton. “When the issue of cassava came up, majority of the cassava farmers were able to benefit through their co-operative societies, why did the government failed to use similar method to achieve the reviving of cotton in order to bail out the textile industries who are importing cotton for their operational need?”

Irked by what could be termed a recurrent decimal by all the stakeholders in term of organising various workshops and conferences that nothing concrete came out for farmers, the former minister of Agriculture, Dr Shettima Mustapha, at a recent workshops in Kaduna cautioned stakeholders to stop talking and go back to the basics, if something tangible would be done as regards cotton farming in the country.

Mustapha, a renowned farmer of long standing, said: “All this talk-shops and slides are enough. We have to go back to the farm,” insisting that farming is only done on the farm and not at the conference halls of cozy buildings.”

When The Nation visited the Double Roller Cotton Ginner Plant at Orile-Ibara in Abeokuta North Local Government Area of Ogun State, it was deserted. The gin that served the cotton farmers in the entire South-West and Edo states looked like a deserted field with only two operating officers.

Explaining while the place was deserted, Kayode Agbaje, who is one of the supervisors, said the workers were on vacation till March when the farmers might have harvested their produce which they would bring to the gin for processing.

According to him, the gin serves Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti, Osun and Edo state where all the National Cotton Association of Nigeria, NACOTAN from these states registered with the gin.

“At the level of NACOTAN, we supplied them cotton seed for planting and the needed fertilisers. When production starts, all the farmers from the aforementioned states will bring their proceeds here for processing and they will be paid according to the volume of their cotton.”

Speaking on why the place was like a ghost town with no activities going on apart from few fertiliser bags and some cotton seed inside the big factory, Olanile Adegbenro, another supervisor in the gin, said the workers who are most casuals would resume back to work around march when the gin might have gotten a sizable delivery of cotton which they can work with.

Adegbenro explained that

the gin is yet to operate at

full capacity, adding that the amount of cotton available we determine how the operational capacity of the gin would be.

He said: “We are expecting cotton from all the farmers who are members of the NACOTAN in the entire Southwest and Edo states.”

However, speaking to The Nation on the plight of cotton farmers in Ogun State, the commissioner for Agriculture, Mrs. Ronke Sokefun, who claimed that the state have about 1,200 registered cotton farmers with the Federal Government Growth Enhancement Support programmes, GES, insisted that some of the cotton farmers in the state benefited from the soft loan.

According to her: “We are aware that cotton farmers in the State benefited from the N100 billion fund released by the Federal Government to revive the cotton and textile industry in the country.”

Although the commissioner could not confirmed how many cotton farmers that benefited and the amount given to them, but she insisted that the said fund was released to the Southwest Cotton Producing States, through the National Cotton Association of Nigeria, NACOTAN Nig. Ltd and not through any agency of Ogun State Government”

She said: “The Double Roller Cotton Ginnery has been able to gin into bailed lint and seeds, all cotton produced from the Southwest and employed over 40 staff. Currently, plans have been completed to overhaul the Ginnery in preparation for next processing season.

“Cotton farming has at no time, stopped in Ogun State. It has been the largest producer of long staple Samcott 11 cotton up till 2012 season and cotton production for 2013 is still being harvested. The Iwoye-Ketu community in the state is renowned for its suitability for cotton production and recently donated 1,000 hectares of land to the state government to support cotton production in the area. In addition. the State is in the process of acquiring 20,000 hectares of land to scale up cotton production in the State.

But a member of the NACOTAN in Abeokuta, who spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity, said the commissioner was economical with the truth, adding that the issue of accessing loan from the BoI, was a bad dream he did not want to remember.

He regretted that if the commissioner did not know the number of farmers that benefited from the loans and how much each got in the state. He said: “That will tell you that a lot of things were covered up. Go to the farmers and they will tell you all the impediments put up in terms of collateral which denied them of being a partaker from the said fund.”

The Nation’s investigation revealed that most of those that benefited from the funds are big time farmers who are not into cotton farming but were highly connected and could provide the needed collateral to back up the loan. In fact, some of them are politicians who used their influences to attract the loan and diverted it to other businesses.

This assertion was equally confirmed by one of the senior managers in BoI, who spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity. He said: “The whole exercise was political because with all the conditions put forward by the bank, it was glaring that the rural farmer who actually needed the fund were not able to access it.”

The Agricultural Economist

said over the years there have

been a lot of lofty policies on agriculture, which failed at the level of implementation due to corruption ‘which is feasible in all area of our endeavours’.

He added: “As at present the country is producing about 125,000 metric tonnes with the hope that with the available fund, the production capacity will rise to 400,000 metric tonnes by the end of 2014, but the way things are going and with what is happening to the available fund, such a progress may remain an illusion.”

On the way out, Amos Adio Oga, a notable cotton farmers in Ilewo Orile farm settlement in Abeokuta North Local Government area of Ogun State, said: “It is high time the government stopped paying lip service to the farmers. If they want to have revolution of cotton and want to revamp it like what it used to be in the past, they know what to do. It is the same government that encouraged us to operate like co-operative society and made sure that we register with our state ministry of agriculture, after doing this, nothing come out of it, it is so sad.

“We should all go back to the drawing board and make sure that the farmers are the centre focus of any agricultural policy otherwise we are all deceiving ourselves. Either the government likes it or not, the bitter truth is that huge investment in agriculture is the only way out of the imminent food crisis.”

January 8, 2014
The other side of cash-less banking

Two years after its introduction by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), cash-less banking is still facing some challenges. These are erratic Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Point of Sale (PoS) and internet banking downtime. Customers also seem to lack confidence in the scheme, writes COLLINS NWEZE.

Cash-less banking was two on January 1, but the challenges confronting it when it was first launched in Lagos are still there.

From non-working Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), debiting of customers’accounts without payment, and poor network in the use of Point of Sale (PoS) terminals, many customers using these alternative banking channels have sad stories to tell.

Saheed Adeoye, a civil servant, based in Lagos, who was at the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Ikeja Distribution Company, Ogba unit to pay his bill, said it took him more than two days to make the payment because the PoS was not working.

He said the poor network challenge, which is becoming a daily occurrence, made users to abandon the device and reverted to cash payment. This, he said, led to long queues. “We have a long queue because there is only one person that is attending to us, besides the PoS is not working. There is need to get more people involved in bill collection, and also get the PoS working too. I have been here several times today and was told that the server is down,” he told The Nation.

Michael Okoye, who was also at the PHCN office to pay his bills, said he was disappointed that the PoS device was not working. “Aside campaigning for the use of alternative channels such as the PoS and ATMs in settling bills, the banks and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) need to get the platforms in good working condition,” he said.

Nigerians, he said, were being denied the convenience and efficiency experienced by other countries in bills payment using alternative banking channels such as ATMs, PoS and internet.

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Deputy Governor, Operations Tunde Lemo said the apex bank was aware of the challenges, adding that it is working on how to enhance connectivity in the system. The challenges, he said, were not insurmountable.

Speaking on the theme: “The evolution to the future Cash-less Nigeria: Positioning the Nigerian Payment ad Settlement Ecosystem for Cash-less Reality,” at the 20th anniversary of the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS) in Lagos, he said: “We have been talking about how to enhance connectivity and one of the things agreed was to work with some service providers. But beyond that, we looked and decided what else to do, particularly outside of Lagos now that we have rolled out the cash-ess policy to six other states outside Lagos.”

So far, he said, the CBN has licenced 21 mobile money operators, but the challenge remains how to link mobile money to the Point of Sale (PoS), among other issues.

“That is a challenge that we are also working on. If mobile phones can serve as a touch point, our transactions would go up rapidly. So, these are some of the things we are looking at, hoping that by next year, as we roll out more PoS machines, we have to see how we integrate the mobile phones into the network because in the hinterlands, the challenges would be more. We hope to roll-out to all the state capitals by the second quarter of this year,” he said.

Lemo explained that the second anniversary is an opportunity for operators and regulators to come together and talk about how to continue to transform the payment system in the country.

“Of course we have ratcheted up transactions around electronic payment. We haven’t done badly at all, but there are still a lot to be covered and we have made significant progress in the area of infrastructure provision, particularly led by the cashless programme of the CBN. We believe that if we continue to drive this, then we will make the payment system a lot more efficient,” he said.

According to him, an efficient payment system is good for the transmission of monetary policy and that is why it is important to us at the CBN. It is also good for financial stability because a stable financial system is seen through how efficient the payment system is.

“Once a payment system is in turmoil, it affects the financial system. So, a very effective payment system is going to be an effective anchor for the transformation of our economy even as we strive to be one of the 20 biggest economies in the world by 2020,” he said.

Lemo explained that the cashless policy initiative is a huge success. Two years ago, we had less than 10,000 PoS machines, but today, we have over 150,000.

“We used to have transactions of less than 100,000, but today, on a daily basis we have between 600 million and one billion and that is just Lagos and one or two other locations. But by the time we roll out across the country, you are going to see a much more transformed payment system and a lot more volume on the electronic payment space,” he said.

Lemo said the use of mobile phones and PoS terminals in implementing the cashless project remains critical.

“That is a challenge that we are also working on. If mobile phones can serve as a touch point, our transactions would go up rapidly. So, these are some of the things we are looking at, hoping that by next year, as we roll out more PoS machines, we have to see how we integrate the mobile phones into the network because in the hinterlands, the challenges would be more. We hope to roll-out to all the state capitals by the second quarter of next year,” he said.

The Deputy Governor said a very effective payment system is going to be an effective anchor for the transformation of the economy even as the country strives to be one of the 20 biggest economies in the world by 2020.

Charges

Cash-less banking charges on cash withdrawal and deposit transactions started on October 2, last year, in the Federal Capital Territory, Abia, Anambra, Kano, Ogun and Rivers states.

CBN Director of Communication, Ugochukwu Okoroafor said the policy was meant to reduce the amount of cash in circulation and encourage more electronic-based solutions for payment for goods and services, transfers among others.

Since the project was introduced in 2012 in Lagos, many commercial banks have through emails, text messages and formal letters been sensitising their customers on the need to embrace alternative payment options.

Banks react

In an emailed statement to its customers, GTBank said the policy would drive the development and modernisation of Nigeria’s payments system within the Abuja and selected states. It said all individuals and corporate will be encouraged to adopt electronic payment and other banking options.

The policy, which before now, is only operational in Lagos State in terms of charges, is aimed at promoting the use of electronic-based transactions instead of cash for payments for goods, services, transfers among other services.

The implementation of the ‘Cash-less Lagos’, as it is known, began on January 1, 2012 and has recorded improvements is the use of PoS, ATMs and other e-payment tools. In Lagos, the service charges/fees did not apply until March 30, 2012, in order to give people time to migrate to electronic channels and experience the infrastructure that has been put in place.

The policy framework stipulates that cash-in-transit lodgment and cash evacuation services will no longer be available to customers or merchants. For individual account holders, charges on cash transactions will apply when daily withdrawals and deposits are in excess of N500,000 while for corpo-rate account holders, charges will apply when daily withdrawals and deposits are in excess of N3 million.

e-payment firms speak

Kamran Siddiqi, Visa’s Group Executive, Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, has said the cash-less banking initiative is modernising the payment system and creating economic development for the country. He was in Nigeria last year to support Visa’s financial literacy and cashless payments drive.

“Nigeria is a very important market for us. It is exciting for me to be here to support the progress Visa has made in driving financial inclusion and making electronic payments more accessible to everyone everywhere,” he said.

He said Visa is dedicated to increasing financial literacy among the unbanked through strategic partnerships and educational programmes.

“This was the motivation behind the recent highly successful Financial Literacy Challenge with the Co-Creation Hub. It was geared at stimulating the development of innovative web and mobile applications to teach money management skills and support the advancement of financial literacy in Nigeria,” he said.

He noted that another of Visa’s focus areas in Nigeria and the West African region is to continue to boost tourism and cross border spend. Nigeria enjoyed a 25 per cent increase in spending by international travellers using their Visa cards in 2012.

Also, international Visa cardholders increased tourism spending from $95.2 million in 2011 to $119.5 million in 2012. Total transactions rose 31.1 per cent from 553 747 to 727 113.

Bankers’ Committee intervenes

The Bankers’ Committee has also taken the cash-less policy campaign to Ogun State to enlighten the people on the use and benefits of the policy.

The scheme was extended to Ogun, Kano, Anambra and Abia states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on July 1, last year.

The initiative, which has entered its second phase, saw the CBN and bank officials staging road shows in six delineated zones (Ilaro, Mowe/Ibafo, Ota, Abeokuta, Sagamu and Ijebu-Ode) in Ogun State, to create awareness on how to use different payment channels, such as ATMs, PoS and money transfers.

According to a statement from the Bankers’ Committee, the six-day activities saw market men and women, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs), among others, being educated on how to transact business electronically.

January 8, 2014
The limits of criticism

There is more to the scandalous exposure of the CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as a false whistle blower on the supposedly untidy accounting books of the nation’s petroleum sector than a section of the Nigerian Press wants us to believe.

Ordinarily, the sensational letter from the CBN Governor to the President raising worrying issues indicating the diversion of earnings from the lucrative crude oil sales by the NNPC is a classical scoop that no newspaper will fail to publish under banner headlines. In this case both the message and the messenger combine to lend credence to the typical Nigerian hear-say and the added spice of a leaked letter could only have proved irresistible to even the most conservative of editors.

So on the face of it, the media splash of screaming headlines and crusading editorials literally canonizing the CBN Governor for such a patriotic spilling of the beans and simultaneously bashing not just the NNPC but the entire Goodluck Jonathan Presidency, was to be expected.

With the House Speaker’s blame game on corruption and former President Obasanjo’s hell-raising letter all hitting the headlines within a few days interval, it was indeed the opposition’s delight.

However, the post-leakage euphoria was dramatically deflated when the Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, CBN Governor made a straight-faced admission of willful exaggeration and inexcusable negligence of official responsibility following the humiliating outcome of a rather belated reconciliation of accounts that provided damning evidence of the CBN Governor’s dishonest flippancy.

By professional reckoning, the news value of the initial leaked letter from the CBN Governor was just as sensational as his self-indicting factual somersault before the Senate which confirmed not only that the CBN Governor misled the nation but that he did so in spite of having the facts of the matter right under his nose.

The Press that was also clearly culpable, as the chosen weapon of mass deception by flagrant disregard of the ethics of news reporting, should have been more outraged by this fiasco than the initial “scoop” that never was. Instead, it was as if the news instincts of the editors had been suddenly turned off. Those that reported the CBN Governor’s gaffe at all tucked into inconspicuous portions of their reports, others callously stuck to the CBN Governor’s discredited whistle-blowing posturing.

Such a bizarre twist in professional standards of news reporting and brazen adoption of bias and prejudice as hallmarks of journalism was most distasteful coming from leading newspapers that flaunt pious slogans of objectivity and fearlessness on their mastheads.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Press deliberately played down the unpatriotic excesses of the CBN Governor who sought to out-do the political opposition in their tendency to smear and sleaze the incumbent President and government and all agencies of government more often than not, without justification.

The incontestable fact is that the reconciliation process including the CBN Governor was satisfied that there was nothing like a 49.8 billion dollars of unremitted proceeds from crude oil sales diverted by the NNPC from the federation account. It was also confirmed that the CBN is in possession of the accounts into which the remittances were duly paid but ignored them for reasons yet to be explained by the CBN Governor.

As if this attitude is not bad enough, weeks after the CBN Governor has himself expressed remorse over his indiscretions and the sensational press hullaballoo forced into acquiescence by the share weight of corrective information, some newspapers would still rehash discredited statements disowned by the author – the CBN Governor.

Discerning Nigerians were aware that the 12 billion dollar figure was not only corrected to about 10.8 billion dollars by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, but further clarified to represent the amount yet to be reconciled at the time of the briefing to the Senate Committee but certainly not “missing.” The needless controversy was CBN Governor’s tactless face-saving effort following his admission that his phantom figure of 49.8 Billion dollars was in fact a huge misinformation that the minister promptly debunked with convincing finality.

The NNPC has declared that by the time the reconciliation process is completed, it will be established that the amount represents some of the responsibilities that it carries out on behalf of the federal government such as the unpaid subsidies on kerosene and premium motor spirit (PMS). Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was earlier reported to have stated that no subsidy on kerosene has been paid since she assumed office.

It is also on record that since January 2012, NNPC has been importing a bulk of the PMS used in the country as most of the private oil marketing firms stopped importing the product. NNPC has successfully kept the nation well stocked with products, especially PMS, these past two years and the national budgets in the period did not capture subsidy to the corporation.

Similarly, the NNPC is required to maintain huge petroleum products reserves in the national territorial waters as strategic reserves in the national interest and at the rate of 40 million litres of PMS national consumption per day, NNPC currently maintains 32 days’ sufficiency of products. The cost of pipeline vandalism and oil theft are security issues affecting over 5000 kilometers of pipelines across the country on which NNPC expends huge resources on pipeline protection and repairs, operational downtime and outright revenue loss from crude oil and product theft and willful spillage. All these make up the yet-to-be-reconciled balance of $10.8bn known to all the parties in the reconciliation process.

With all this verified information in public circulation for weeks, it is incomprehensible that some newspapers will adamantly continue dishing out the falsehood. Sadly, there is little or no hope that the errant fringes of the Nigerian Press can be called to order in what is clearly a disservice to the citizenry. The wise citizens should therefore protect themselves from press freedom without responsibility henceforth.

• Gwazuwang, a petroleum industry watcher wrote from Abuja.

January 7, 2014
CBN pays N48b pension fund trapped in CDL

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has paid N48 billion, out of the N60 billion invested by Pension Fund Administrators in the troubled Consolidated Discount Limited (CDL), The Nation has learnt.

The funds belonging to pensioners under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) were invested in CDL by PFAs but got trapped owing to alleged financial recklessness in the company.

It was also learnt that PenCom is working with CBN, Securaities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and other players to forestall future occurrence.

An insider in PenCom, who spoke anonymously, said: “CBN has paid the money trapped in CDL. A total of N48 billion has been paid.

“We are working with CBN and other players to forestall future occurrence. We cannot do much alone because we cannot stop the PFAs from investing in the money market. All that can be done is for CBN to ensure that such mistakes do not happen again.

Managing Director, ARM Pension Managers, Mr Sadiq Mohammed confirmed that payments have been made by CBN to the PFAs.

Sadiq who said he cannot say as press time, the total amount that has been paid, said the CBN Governor,Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has promised that all depositors will be paid.

He assured that no fund trapped in other discount house.

“To curtail future occurrence, I believe we will engage the relevant bodies who are the regulators like CBN so that you are forewarned before such things happen in the future,” he added.

CBN discovered financial recklessness in CDL during a recent probe of the books and accounts of the company.

Based on the discovery, a meeting was held between the CBN, NDIC, PenCom and PeNop, the umbrella body of Pension managers in the country.

In a letter to CDL Interim Administrator obtained by The Nation, CBN Director of Banking Supervision, Tokunbo Martins, informed lenders and unsecured depositors of the discount house of the probe.

She said: “This is to intimate all lenders and unsecured depositors of CDL of on-going investigation into the books and accounts of the discount house by the CBN.

“We assure such lenders/unsecured depositors that the CBN shall, without prejudice, pay the principal sums constituting the deposit liabilities of CDL to such lenders/unsecured depositors after the verification expected to be concluded soon. We advise lenders not to panic as no funds deposited with the discount house would be lost.”

January 1, 2014
Unending reforms as banks step up deposit drive

In the past 12 months, policy changes under the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, have been regular, swift and sudden. The CBN’s target is to keep the naira stable, reduce cost of banking operations and shift banks’ interest from public sector deposits to private sector funds.

During the year, banks’ Net-Open Position Limit (NOPL) was also reduced to one per cent, and a 48-hour limit placed on the use of forex bought from the Retail Dutch Auction System (RDAS). On September 16, the Central Bank said it would, by December 2016, stop playing the implicit role of “banker of last resort” for the Real-Time Gross Settlement System in banking.

The biggest policy within the year was the CRR hike, which on August 7, took away N1.3 trillion from the financial system.

The CRR is the portion expressed as a percentage of banks’ deposit balances, which they must have as reserve in cash with the central bank.

Sanusi said the policy was ignited by worries over the rise in liquidity from banks purchasing short-term government securities using public sector deposits. He was afraid that strong liquidity growth could trigger a rise in inflation, which was at 8.2 per cent in August.

Olakunle Ezun, Currencies Analyst at Ecobank Nigeria, said the policies remained positive as long as they support the naira and reveal the health and soundness of the banking system. He sees them as indirect tightening of loanable funds to banks.

Agent Banking/ Mobile Money

Besides these policy changes, the CBN also within the year made case for improved financial inclusion.

The regulator consistently advised banks on the need to provide access to affordable financial services and products for every Nigerian.

Agent banking and mobile money were part of the policies taken by the regulator to get the message across to the unbanked. Subsequently, the CBN within the year issued Agent Banking Guidelines to reach the people in the grassroots where bank branches are scarce.

Sanusi said financial inclusion had been defined in different ways around the world but the essence of inclusion is tied to economic development and providing a better way of life for all Nigerians.

The CBN, he said, had over the years recognised certain barriers to achieving inclusion some of which include; distance to bank branches, cumbersome account opening requirements, lack of awareness of financial products and services amongst others.

“As a regulator, we also recognise the challenges deposit money banks face in trying to reach the underserved communities which include; the cost incurred by the banks in catering to lower valued accounts and the cost of expanding their branch networks to excluded communities,” he said.

He said the apex bank has taken a stand therefore to ensure that these barriers are broken down and several steps to address these constraints have been taken. Some of these include agent banking.

The guidelines for agent banking have been developed and approved by the CBN. The guidelines are to ensure increased agent activity in the delivery of banking services outside traditional brick and Mortar bank branches, through additional financial access points such as existing retail stores, petrol stations, post offices or via technology such as ‘Point of Sale’ (POS) devices and mobile phones.

The Financial Industry along with other stakeholders decided to make financial inclusion a top priority and launched a National Financial Inclusion Strategy. The strategy has targets to help reduce the number of adult Nigerians who are excluded from formal financial services from 46.3 per cent in 2012 to 20 per cent in 2020 with specific targets for payments, savings, credit and Insurance.

Sanusi said sustaining Nigeria’s development hinges on ensuring that at least 80 per cent of all adult Nigerians have access to affordable financial services as well as the right environment within which to flourish economically.

Mobile Money

Acting Chief Executive Officer Etisalat Nigeria Matthew Willsher explained that mobile money remained a convenient, secure and affordable way to send money to friends and family using mobile phone also played dominant role in financial inclusion. He said that regulators like the CBN and National Communication Commission (NCC) need to work together to make mobile money a success.

Telecommunication companies (Telcos) and banks which are expected to jointly drive the process are working at crossroads. The telcos insist that they should be in charge, and not the banks. They have been advocating for operator-led model instead of bank-led model being implemented by the CBN.

The bank-led model requires that a bank deploys mobile payment applications or devices to customers and ensures merchants have the required point-of-sale (PoS) acceptance capability to carry out the transaction. Here, mobile network operators’ network merely serves as vehicle through which transactions take place. The model was based on the regulatory framework for mobile payment services issued by the CBN in 2009, which disenfranchised telcos from operating mobile money except through strategic partnerships with licensed operators.

The Telcos, have consistently advised the CBN to allow them participate in the regulation of the subsector, but nothing has come out of the demand. The apex bank, which solely regulates the business, has given the Telcos little or no opportunity for control. This model has deprived the business the needed technological and infrastructural backing critical to its success.

Globacom’s Director, Telebanking Unit, Tunde Kuponiyi. He insisted that the current regime of mobile money regulation, which is being bank-driven, is not friendly to telecoms companies who provide the mobile payment platform. He said that though there was a lot that telecoms companies could contribute in a cash-less economy, their current mandate was limiting.

Banks approach

Some of the banks that embraced agent banking are FirstBank of Nigeria Limited, Sterling Bank, among others. Sterling Bank said it has decided to take the agent banking approach to include the millions of the unbanked Nigerians in the financial system and by so doing, empowering them to become economically viable.

Sanusi, who launched the bank’s agent banking platform in Lagos, said the lender engages pre-qualified individuals in different locations that are predominantly financially-excluded to serve as agents to the Bank under the CBN approved agent banking model.

How Agent Banking works

The use of biometrics-enabled POS with a well-tested application that has been successful in India that shares some similarities with Nigeria; agents that are carefully selected are then authorised to carry Out certain transactions, among others for customers under the scheme Such as the enrolment of new customers in line with the CBN Level KYC requirements, deposits, withdrawals, airtime top-up and bill payment and funds transfer.

Hitches

However, this cannot be done with the unbalanced distribution of bank branches in the country. According to the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), out of the 869 licensed micro finance banks in the country, 346 or 39.8 per cent are located in the south- west geopolitical zone, 162 or 18.64 per cent in the south east, 158 or 18.8 per cent in the north central while only 63 or 7.2per cent and 32 or 3.6 per cent are located in the north west and north east. Lagos, Anambra and Abuja have the highest number of MFBs.

Agent banking is part of efforts to increase the level of financial inclusion of the country, according to the Managing Director of the NDIC, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim.

Agent banks operate in simple ways such that they can be operated by supermarkets, gas stations, stores and the likes as they are not full-fledged banks. The Kenyan model of agent banks are usually equipped with a combination of point-of-sale (POS) card reader, mobile phone, barcode scanner to scan bills for bill payment transactions, Personal Identification Number (PIN) pads, and sometimes personal computers (PCs) that connect with the bank’s server using a personal dial-up or other data connection.

Clients that transact at the agent use a magstripe bank card or their mobile phone to access their bank account or e-wallet respectively. Identification of customers is normally done through a Personal Identification Number, but could also involve biometrics. With regard to the transaction verification, authorisation, and settlement platform, banking agents are similar to any other remote bank channel.

According to the NDIC chief, agency banking would go a long way in reaching out to the largely unbanked population by creating banking representations where banks ordinarily do not have enough resources to establish branches.

Ibrahim explained that agent banks is a complimentary policy that is worthy of emulation as it would provide simple banking services to a variety of people on behalf of various banks.

“Agent banking has the potentials to grow access to banking facilities in the country especially uneducated and those in rural areas. Another area where agents could be meaningfully deployed is in the mobile payment system as successfully done in Kenya and some other countries,” analysts said.

Agent banking, however, comes with its own risks as banks and their customers would be faced with agent fraud, unauthorised fees, loss of customer assets and records, data entry errors, system failures as well as a host of others.

These, they noted would have negative impact on the image of the banks affected customers’ confidence in them would water down, lowering their customer and profit base.

Cash-less banking

The year also ended without the CBN being able to fully resolve the connectivity challenge facing cash-less banking. CBN Deputy Governor, Operations, Tunde Lemo said the CBN has licensed 21 mobile money operators but the challenge remains how to link mobile money to the PoS among other issues.

“That is a challenge that we are also working on. If mobile phones can serve as a touch point, our transactions would go up rapidly. So these are some of the things we are looking at, hoping that by next year, as we roll out more PoS machines, we have to see how we integrate the mobile phones into the network because in the hinterlands, the challenges would be more. We hope to roll-out to all the state capitals by the second quarter of next year,” he said.

January 1, 2014
December 2013: A month in missives

When the history of these tempestuous times in Nigeria comes to be written, December 2013 will go down as The Month of Missives.

The blizzard was set off by an 18-page missive from former President Olusegun Obasanjo to Dr Goodluck Jonathan, whose dizzy rise from the obscurity of deputy governor of Bayelsa State to vice president, en route to becoming president, Obasanjo had orchestrated. Obasanjo had in the same manouevre railroaded Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, governor of Katsina State, into the office of President

Settling for these men when far more capable aspirants were available and willing will forever cast a pall on Obasanjo’s judgment.

To return to the missive: It was vintage Obasanjo – blunt as a punch to the nose. I rather like the earthy Yoruba expression a correspondent employed to describe the matter, but I cannot reproduce it here even in loose translation, this being a newspaper for the entire family, enjoined to dwell only on whatsoever is of good report.

Let us just say that my correspondent likened the missive in all its bluntness to a kick in the groin.

Other than the charge that the Jonathan Administration was training a squadron of snipers at a secret location, there was nothing in Obasanjo’s missive that the attentive audience does not encounter daily in the newspapers, in the so-called social media, and in their workaday lives.

Shortly after Dr Jonathan took office, I asked one of his top advisers whether he was up to the task. His reply: “Without hesitation, no.” And the adviser reeled out instance upon instance that led him to that judgment. Several senior officials close to Dr Jonathan also concurred in that evaluation when I put the same question to them.

Given the special scrutiny my passport has received in the past three years upon my arrival at Murtala Muhammed Airport, I have good reason to believe, as Obasanjo has charged, that the Administration maintains a Watch List. Some prominent media figures of my acquaintance are also often subjected to the same wanton attention at Passport Control

Many have argued that even if the missive was on target, as indeed it was, the author was not morally qualified to issue it; that many of the grave deficiencies he identified in the Jonathan record could be traced to his own tenure, and that he had not merely set a ghastly example for his estranged protégé, he had also guided him to follow it through. The pupil, they maintain, has learned only too well from his tutor.

There is some merit to that reasoning.

Still, doesn’t every parent expect his children to transcend his or her own inadequacies, to succeed where the parent failed, and altogether to chalk up a superior record of achievement? That, I suspect is the basis of Obasanjo’s disenchantment, that Dr Jonathan has not measured up to his expectations. It is now clear that he did not know his “son” well enough to nurse such expectations

The sandbagging proved too much even for the usually meek pupil, and he has struck back using every available platform and occasion – in a BBC interview from Paris, in Nairobi, Kenya, and at church services, naming no names but leaving no doubt about whom he has in mind – those who regard not just the Presidency but the entire country as their personal bedroom.

The centerpiece of his response was a blockbuster missive designed to counter almost point by point Obasanjo’s charges. It is competent in part but perfunctory overall. Polemically, there is little to recommend it. In substance, it was less than a robust rebuttal. I doubt whether it changed any minds.

What must be seen as a far more damaging response to Obasanjo’s withering missive came in the form of another missive said to have been written by his daughter Iyabo, most recently a “distinguished senator,” to employ the inflated appellation members of Nigeria’s upper house of the National Assembly have bestowed on themselves to match their obscene, self- assigned material privileges.

For sheer scurrility, it would be hard to match. In fact, I am almost prepared to state that, if it is confirmed beyond a reasonable doubt that she wrote the missive, it will go down as one of the most contumacious ever written by a child to a parent. It is perfused with contempt, ridicule, scorn, and loathing abhorrence of the most visceral kind.

There are reasons aplenty for doubting that she wrote the missive published by Vanguard Newspapers. The missive was typewritten, not written in longhand, the intimate, personal format one would expect most children to employ in writing to their parents. The closing line lists her academic qualifications, as if it was a letter of reference or a job application. Surely, her father would know that she has doctorates in veterinary medicine and public health?

Nor was the missive signed. This particular omission may have been designed to allow the writer to deny authorship. But does it not also suggest that Dr Obasanjo may not have written it?

Much of what the missive contains about how Obasanjo relates to members of his family has long been in the public domain. Anyone who has read the memoirs of Iyabo Obasanjo’s mother or her numerous press interviews and has some familiarity with gossip about the family could have written that missive.

So, judging strictly by the rules of documentary analysis, it is not proven that Dr Obasanjo wrote it. If she wrote it, did she intend it for publication? And if she did not write it, who did?

To the extent that she has not disavowed the missive, reasonable people may reasonably conclude that she must have written it. But if she wrote it, why has she not come out to say so?

If Dr Obasanjo confirmed that she wrote the missive, she would have assured for herself a lasting place in the annals of infamy. If she repudiated it, she would have spurred those who say they have proof that she wrote it to come out with it and destroy whatever ambition she might still be nursing.

In the circumstance, she would seem to have calculated, or more likely been led to believe that keeping mum is the best strategy for damage control.

That, at any rate, is the theory I have come to accept.

As the nation reeled from its impact, the blizzard of missives was upgraded to a veritable maelstrom by yet another missive, this one from the plush and sedate executive suites of the Central Bank, courtesy of its governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

Some U.S. $50 billion or N8 trillion in oil export earnings, the missive addressed directly to President Jonathan charged, had not been remitted to the federal exchequer by the notoriously opaque Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Back when the trouble with Nigeria was not money but how to spend it, the charge would have been explosive indeed. Now that the government is reportedly broke and the air saturated with allegations of official thieving, the charge is nothing if not incendiary.

The NNPC moved with uncharacteristic speed to explain that the gap identified by CBN represented remittances to other agencies of the Federal Government. Sanusi stuck to his missive and renewed the charge.

In the end he conceded that just US$10 billion remains unaccounted for. That is still a great deal of money, but a far cry from the amount alleged to be missing, in the popular imagination diverted to private pockets.

When principal officials of the treasurer to the Federal Government and the bank of bankers cannot count, when they are unfamiliar with the mechanism for reporting oil receipts, how much confidence can the public invest in all those figures they ritually churn out?

Finally, I bring up another missive, a 12-page excoriation of Obasanjo that qualifies only as a minor footnote, and a contemptible one at that. Its author is Ameh Ebute, who played a part in bargaining away the victory of his party’s candidate, Chief MKO Abiola, in the 1993 presidential election.

If Ebute and his gang had not betrayed the sovereign will of the people as expressed emphatically in that election, if they had stood firm, there would have been no Shonekan Interim, no Abacha, no Obasanjo redux and probably no Jonathan.

December 31, 2013