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Tag: Sanusi

  • Not all Basel requirements are acceptable, says Sanusi

    Nigeria doesn’t accept all requirements of the Basel II and Basel III accords for banking regulation, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Lamido Sanusi said.

    He told Bloomberg Friday in Cape Town that while “they both have strong points” for regulating bank reserves, “some of the quantitative elements where you effectively allow banks to run any kind of models and to calculate their own risk and capital,” fall short of what is needed .

    “There still has to be some element of Basel I as far as that is concerned,” he said.

    Rules from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision requiring requiring banks to hold enough capital to survive market turmoil without causing risk to the financial system, also known as Basel III, come into effect over the next five years.

    Appointed CBN governor amid a debt crisis in Africa’s largest oil producer 2009, Sanusi initiated reforms to rescue Nigeria’s banking industry from near-collapse and fired the chief executives of eight lenders bailed out by the regulator. The government then set up the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to buy bad debt from banks.

     

  • Use experts in key posts, Sanusi tells banks

    Use experts in key posts, Sanusi tells banks

    Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Lamido Sanusi has advised banks to use only qualified and competent hands in key positions.

    Speaking at the annual risk management conference in Lagos, he said banks should start assessing their staff in key roles, especially risk managers, auditors, compliance officers, treasurers, chief finance officers and others in controlled functions in line with the CBN’s competency framework.

    The framework shows that the recent global financial crisis exposed the inadequacy of skills and the dearth of executive capacity in the banking industry.

    The skill gap, it explained, manifested in, among others, the lack of indepth knowledge of core banking functions and poor understanding of basic banking operations; poor understanding of banking regulations and poor risk management and corporate governance practices.

    Sanusi said the CBN would soon send out questionnaires to banks for information on their staff competency.

    He advised the banks to begin to think of hiring new managers should the current ones fall below the CBN requirement. The CBN boss said this has become exigent following the regulator’s commitment to sustain the stability of Nigeria financial system.

    He said there is need to assess skills, qualifications, experience and competencies of staff currently occupying controlled functions in banks. This, in essence, implies that continuous strengthening of intellectual resources and capabilities must be undertaken to create a pool of talented and high calibre professionals in the banking industry.

    In a circular tagged: “Assessment of competencies in the Nigerian banking industry” signed by Y.B Duniya for Director, Financial Policy and Regulation, the CBN said the exercise would enable the Bankers’ Committee identify at the preliminary stages, gaps that would impede the effective implementation of the Competency Framework for the banking industry being appraised by the apex bank.

    It said the list of controlled functions was not exhaustive as other important roles and responsibilities may be added.

    The framework is expected to address the competency challenges in the industry, explore growth opportunities and facilitate improvement in the quality of human capital.

    “Under the framework, successful banks will be those that distinguish themselves by according high priority to continuous enhancement of human capital and lifelong learning,” the apex bank had said.

    The apex bank also said it will maintain a central database for approved persons. Banks are expected to update the database with details of approved persons and access it as part of their due diligence before the appointment of such persons.

    The framework leverages on the practices in other jurisdictions, such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Dubai, which provide a useful guide and template for the banking industry.

     

  • Alleged contempt: Sanusi, others get June 26 date

    Alleged contempt: Sanusi, others get June 26 date

    A Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed June 26 for

    hearing on an application praying it to open trial in the alleged contempt case against Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi, Managing Director, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) Umar Ibrahim and 13 others.

    Justice A. Abdul-Kafarati chose the date last Thursday after entertaining arguments from parties on the priority of application to be taken.

    Plaintiffs’lawyer, John Okoriko, urged the court to first consider his clients’application, which seeks an order setting dawn the motion for committal for hearing despite the filing of applications for stay of proceedings by the defendants.

    He argued that it was the practice that a court must first preserve its integrity and dignity by dealing with issues relating to the disobedience of its order, before taking any further steps.

    He relied on the Supreme Court decision in the case of Ebhodaghe and Okoye, reported in (2004) 18 NWLR (Pt 905) page 472 SC at pages 494-495.

    In the alternative, he argued that the court could still proceed with the contempt proceedings even when a stay of proceedings is granted in the substantive case, on the ground that the contempt case was independent of the civil case.

    Okoriko also urged the court to hear and grant the plaintiffs’ pending applications seeking the appointment of its Registrar to assume custody of the assets of the first defendant (in the civil suit) with the other defendants.

    On this point, he relied on the Court of Appeal decision in the case of Okafor and Okafor, reported in (2000) 11 NWLR (Pt 677) page 21, particularly at page 32.

    Defence lawyers led by S. S. Ameh (SAN) argued otherwise, insisting that the court must first deal with their applications seeking to stay proceedings and also challenging the court’s jurisdiction to here the case.

    He argued that where many applications are contesting the attention of the court, it must give priority to that challenging its jurisdiction.

    Justice Abdul-Kafarati elected to hear the applications seeking stay of proceedings along with that praying that the contempt proceedings be conducted.

    The contempt charge against Sanusi and others, was initiated by plaintiffs in a N7.013billion suit against Fortune Bank and five others, for allegedly dissipating the bank’s assets despite an order restraing the defendants and their agents from tampering with Fortune Bank’s assets in their custody pending the determination of the main suit.

    Named with Sanusi, Ibrahim and their organisations, in the contempt charge are the Managing Director, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Ladi Balogun and his bank; his counterpart in Fidelity Bank and Union Bank – Reginald Ihiejiehi, Emeka Enuwa and their banks.

    Others include two agents appointed by the CBN to manage Fortune Bank’s assets – Tobe Iwobi and Abdulwahab Abdulrahman; a lawyer in the firm of Simmons Cooper Partners, Dapo Akinosun, Udochi Iheanacho and Fortune Bank.

    The plaintiffs in the substantive suit are Bedding Holdings Limited, Postal Innovations and Systems Limited and Chief Sylvester Odigie.

    The defendants include Fortune, NDIC, CBN, Attorney-General of the Federation, Fidelity Bank and FCMB.

    The plaintiffs had instituted the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/844/2011 claiming N7,012,944,550 as special and general damages against the defendants arising from the plaintiffs investment in the first defendant (Fortune Bank) from 2005 since CBN and NDIC took it over for allegedly being in liquidation.

    Subsequently, the court gave a mareva order made ex-parte on November 25, 2011 and another interlocutory order made on February 21, 2013 restraining all the defendants from tampering ar taking steps to dissipate Fortune Bank’s assets in their custody pending the determination of the substantive suit..

    The plaintiffs averred, in an affidavit supporting their motion for committal, that despite the subsistence of the mareva injunctions, the defendants have taken steps to deplete Fortune Bank’s assets.

    They cited purported moves to sell Fortune bank’s main property in Lagos – Fortune Towers – to Union Bank and alleged depletion of the bank’s funds in an account with FCMB by the defendants despite the subsistence of the order restraining them from tampering with Fortune Bank’s properties and funds until the determination of the substantive case.

    The plaintiffs were customers to Fortune Bank until the CBN’s banks’ consolidation policy.

    They stated, in a supporting affidavit, that they had a fixed deposit account with a balance of over 230million around 2005, but that the bank allegedly frustrated their efforts to access the funds for several business transactions, in the cause of which they suffered huge loses, business interests and incurred debts running into billions of naira.

    In their response to the suit, the defendants filed notices of objection, challenging its competence and the court’s jurisdiction.

    The court has since dismissed the objections and assumed jurisdiction, a decision the defendants have appealed.

    They have now filed applications for stay of proceedings pending the determination of their appeal.

     

  • How Africa can develop its economy, by Sanusi

    How Africa can develop its economy, by Sanusi

    For the economies of Africa to transform from being import-dependent to industrialised, the continent must put in place infrastructure, Afro-centric policies and develop both technical and vocational skills, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has said.

    He identified these factors in a speech he wrote for the Financial Times of London entitled: Development or de-industrialisation? A new look at Chinese engagement with Africa.

    The CBN chief lamented that the continent has become a dumping ground for Chinese manufactured exports. He argued that a country, such as Nigeria with huge domestic market, but with factories largely shut, ought to refine her crude oil, build petrochemical plants and use gas for power generation and other gas-based industries such as fertiliser plants.

    “For Africa to finally realise its economic potential and … succeed, we need four things:First, we need to build first class infrastructure (electricity, telecommunications, transportation).

    “Second, the infrastructure so built should service a vision of Afro-centric economic policies. African nations will not develop by selling commodities to Europe, America and China. We may not compete immediately with the Asian tigers in selling manufactured goods to Europe. But in the short-term, with the right infrastructure, the huge African market is there.

    “Third, we must see China for what it is; a competitor who must be “taken out.” Africa must look at trade at trade practices, the impact of export incentives and subsidies and a weak currency, on Chinese exports to Africa. We must not only produce locally those goods in which we can build comparative advantage, but actively fight off Chinese imports promoted by predatory policies.

    “Finally, while African labour may be cheaper than Chinese labour, productivity remains very low. Investment in technical and vocational education are critical (elements too),” the apex bank chief said.

    According to him, these changes will transform the relationship between Africa and China.

    He added that the continent must recognise that China is not in Africa to promote African interests, arguing that, such as Americans, Russians, French, Brazilians and others, the interest of their countries is first while that of others follows.

    “The romance (with China) needs to be replaced by hard-nosed economic thinking. Engagement must be on terms that allow the Chinese to make money while benefiting African development-such as incentives to set up manufacturing on African soil and policies to ensure employment of Africans and skills transfers as well as encouraging equity participation by locals,” Sanusi advocated.

     

  • Sultan, Akinyemi, Sanusi for seminar

    Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi will be leading other eggheads to Minna the capital of Niger State, tomorrow for a conference on corruption.

    The one-day conference is tagged: “Minna National Discourse on Corruption. “The conference will be chaired by the Central Bank (CBN) Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

    Minister of National Planning Commission Dr Shamsudeen Usman, 16 governors, traditional rulers, led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar and members of the Diplomatic Corps are expected to attend.

    According to the conference’s convener, Niger State Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, leaders should be in the forefront of the war against corruption.

    He said: “When we are talking about corruption, we must look consciously at the real cause. Corruption originates from the leadership. As leaders, we must lead by example. As stakeholders in the Nigerian project, the conference is a platform to brainstorm on how to overcome the cankerworm of indiscipline, corruption, and disregard for rules and regulations in the country.”

    Others expected at the conference include Sheik Abdullah, Dr Kabiru Adeniyi, Prof Chidi Anselm Odinkalu and Dr Hakeem Baba Ahmed, among others.

  • Sanusi: Islam supports education

    Sanusi: Islam supports education

    Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Malam Lamido Sanusi Lamido, says historically Islam has supported education, urging Muslims to sustain the practice.

    Delivering the convocation lecture at the Second Convocation of the Fountain University, Osogbo entitled: Islam and the culture of education, Sanusi said knowledge transfer, promotion of literacy, establishment of schools were embedded in the practice of Islam. He noted that Islamic cities like Baghdad and Cairo started schools that evolved into world-class universities.

    In modern times, he said Muslim countries that promote education are among the fastest growing.

    “Recent development among countries and societies in the Muslim world are showing positive signs of improvement in human development, key to which is education. Six out of 10 countries that registered the fastest progress in human development index (HDI) are Muslim-majority countries. They are: Oman, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, with Oman being the fastest,” he said.

    During the event, the university conferred an honorary Doctor of Public Administration (DPA) on the wife of the Vice President, Hajiya Amina Namadi Sambo, who had earlier turned the sod of a multi-purpose hall and 360-bed hostel.

    Other recipients were philanthropist, Alhaji Sulaiman Adegunwa and the pioneer NASFAT President, Alhaji Abdul Lateef Olasupo.

    One hundred and twenty-eight students graduated from the Colleges of Management and Social Sciences, Natural and Applied Science. Among the graduating students, there were 12 first class grade, 39 second class upper, 61 lower class and 16 3rd class grades.

    The Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof Bashir Raji, said Fountain University remained committed to academic excellence.

  • External reserves didn’t exceed $67b under Yar’Adua – Sanusi

    External reserves didn’t exceed $67b under Yar’Adua – Sanusi

    The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Malam Lamido Sanusi, has said the country’s external reserves never overshot the $67 billion mark during late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s administration.

    Sanusi said this on Tuesday in Lagos while speaking as guest speaker at the Metropolitan Club’s forum.

    He said the highest external reserves recorded during Yar’Adua’s regime was $62 billion, adding that the controversy surrounding the matter was unnecessary.

    The CBN governor added that the decline in the nation’s reserves was as a result of exigencies, stressing that governments worldwide spend part of their reserves whenever the need arose.

    “You save money when prices of oil are high and you spend when prices are low.

    “It is part of the excess crude account that we used to finance the oil subsidy,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Sanusi as saying at the forum.

    He said the spending of external reserves by the government was transparent and could be accounted for.

    He also said CBN was working with the Ministry of Finance to block all leakages in the system, and identified corruption as one of the major problems facing the country.

    The CBN governor explained that the reform agenda in all sectors would resort to sound economy in future.

    He urged Nigerians to join hands to fight corruption in all areas of the economy, saying this was the cause of distortion and destruction to the economy.

    ‘’We fought it in the banking sector and we can all see the positive results.

    ‘’However, it is not only banks that we have thieves. They are everywhere. So, other sectors should follow the CBN example,” he said.

  • I’m not interested in CBN’s job – Yero

    I’m not interested in CBN’s job – Yero

    Governor Mukthar Ramalan Yero of Kaduna State said on Tuesday that he was satisfied with his current position as governor of the state and is therefore not interested in taking up appointment as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

    In a statement made available to The Nation in Kaduna and signed by the Director- General, Media and Publicity, Ahmed Maiyaki, the goovernor said that his immediate concern was how to deliver on the mandate given to his government by the people of the state.

    While describing the recent rumour as mischevious and the handiwork of mischief makers, the governor said that he was completely devoted to delivering democracy dividends to the people of the state.

    The statement reads: “It has come to our notice that some miscreants are peddling rumour of a purported move to appoint His Excellency, Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the expiration of the tenure of the current Governor of the apex bank, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

    “While we may have ignored this insinuation as another handiwork of mischief makers, it is pertinent to put the record straight in the interest of providing accurate information to the people of Kaduna State and beyond, to save them from falling gullible to falsehood.

    “We wish to state categorically that His Excellency is completely devoted to delivering democracy dividends to the people of Kaduna State, to justify the mandate giving to this administration by the people.

    “The Governor has no interest in taking up appointment at the CBN or any other institution. His Excellency, Alhaji (Dr) Mukhtar Ramalan Yero remains committed and focused towards providing purposeful leadership that will bring about rapid transformation of Kaduna State.”

     

  • CBN to execute school project in Dukku Emirate

    CBN to execute school project in Dukku Emirate

    The Central Bank of Nigeria on Monday said it would execute a project in one of the schools at Dukku Emirate in Gombe State as part of the bank’s intervention programmes on education.

    The CBN Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido, disclosed this during a visit to the Emir of Dukku, Alhaji Haruna Rasheed in Dukku.

    Lamido told the Emir to identify the school where the bank would execute the project.

    “We have good news. The Central Bank of Nigeria is embarking on projects in schools this year.

    “We will like the Emir to name a school in Dukku so that we will embark on the project,” he said.

    Sanusi commiserated with the new Emir over the death of his father, Alhaji Abdulrasheed and congratulated him on his appointment.

    He said the appointment of the new Emir would bring peace and development in Dukku Emirate and Gombe as a whole.

    Responding, the Emir thanked the CBN governor, management and staff of the bank for identifying with him during the death of his father.

    Speaking with journalists after the visit, Sanusi said the project to be executed in Dukku was in line with the bank’s policy.

    “Usually CBN does interventions every year and what we said is that this year part of our interventions will be in Dukku because we do it in every zone of the country.

    “Last year, we did it in Borno State and this year, we will do it in Gombe State,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the CBN governor as saying to journalists.

     

  • Sanusi and socio-cultural groups

    Sanusi and socio-cultural groups

    •Blanket ban on them cannot guarantee security

    President Goodluck Jonathan may have to start considering a new role for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. It does not seem Mallam Sanusi understands that he has a lot to do as CBN governor, because if he does, he will squarely face the challenges of that office instead of gravitating from one controversy to the other. Mallam Sanusi’s activism eminently qualifies him for the epithet ‘Mr. Controversy’.

    On January 15, he chose, once again, to stir the hornet’s nest when he called for the proscription of ethno-religious groups in the country. The associations that Mallam Sanusi wants proscribed are the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the Jamatul Nasril Islam (JNI), Afenifere, among others. Sanusi spoke at an inter-faith dinner organised by the Northern Reawakening Forum (NRF) in Abuja.

    In spite of the fact that the NRF is itself one of the associations that Mallam Sanusi would want banned, he still found time to attend the event. This means that such groups still have their merits despite what the CBN boss sees as their demerits that he thinks are enough to make Nigerians consign them to history. Perhaps they still serve as vehicles to reach specific audiences. Hear Sanusi; “I almost didn’t want to attend this occasion because I am opposed to regional, ethnic and religious groupings in this country. In fact, I would like the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Jamatul Nasril Islam (JNI), Afenifere and all such other groups to be banned.”

    We do not know who drafted Mallam Sanusi’s speech that he read at the occasion, and in what order the names of the ‘offensive’ associations were listed; but it was clear that the writer was not guided by experience. Otherwise, the CAN should not have led the pack of associations that Mallam Sanusi wants proscribed. The CBN governor should not be surprised if people point attention to the fact that CAN is number one on his list.

    Obviously, Mallam Sanusi did not expect that his speech would go unchallenged. The concerned groups as well as many others have rightly taken him on. Afenifere, for instance, has said his call for their proscription is a huge joke. We think so. Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s National Secretary, Chief Nduka Eya, said Mallam Sanusi should not be dignified with a response because his comments are frivolous. As a matter of fact, the association sees the CBN governor as one of the too many cooks that spoil the broth. CAN, on its part sees Sanusi’s barrage of controversial comments as portending more danger to security than any non-religious group in the country. The ACF sees something positive in what it calls the associations’ “overlapping interests whose countervailing forces reinforce the unity of the country”.

    The country’s constitution guarantees freedom of association, and that is the grund norm. There is nothing in the constitution suggesting that political or socio-cultural (ethnic) associations are necessarily evil. Therefore, whatever ill-feelings Mallam Sanusi or anyone for that matter might have about these associations cannot be a reason for their proscription.

    It is true that there are serious security challenges in the country. But no one has proved that these associations are responsible for them. Therefore, what we need to address are the socio-economic injustices that led to such security challenges, instead of looking for scapegoats in the socio-political groupings.

    Even if Mallam Sanusi is right that some of these associations have been abetting criminals or terrorists, the appropriate thing to do is for the security agencies to penetrate them with a view to uncovering those with ulterior motives. It is those found to be serving dysfunctional purposes that should be made to face the full wrath of the law. You cannot place a blanket ban on the activities of all of them simply on account of the sins or perceived iniquities of a few.