Banking Tsunami: Lawmakers Sleep as Chaos Looms

The banking tsunami is a phenomenon that holds a double-edge sword capable of reshaping the country for the better or presenting grave danger if not pursued to a logical conclusion, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek can now reveal.
Supporters of the recent fundamental change in power and organizational structures of some banks in the country, said, that there is need to resuscitate the values that country’s unborn children will be proud of and instill professionalism in financial system.
But claims and counter-charges have greeted the sweeping reforms; while some said it is totally expected given known oppositions to revolutions, others warn of preventable chaos citing selective justice.
Unfortunately as the argument swung left and right, the National Assembly which should have been the bastion of hope, appear to lack the technical depth to analyze in real terms the gains and losses by the banking revolution.
As the lawmakers look elsewhere, the ripple effects of the banking tsunami on financial industry, businesses and Nigerians is colossal and has resulted in confidence crisis, loss of credit lines, diminishing international trust and confidence, jobs losses and general hardship.
Attention has also been diverted from the subject and object of the tsunami with some Nigerians including members of the National Assembly applauding as sacked banks chief executives are paraded as thieves.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that in place of the ineffectual National Assembly, different interpretations have been given to the revolution.
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), claim that the apex bank is acting with the framework of the powers granted it by its Act.
But some mischief makers have hijacked the entanglement to fuel discord
Recalcitrant debtors and critics are already calling for the head of the CBN’s boss, a man of uncommon depth and capacity. They said that his eclectic disposition gives him up easily.
Love or loathe him, he has profoundly disrupted the status quo. He is the most talked about person in the country today because of the sweeping reforms he embarked upon since assumption of office as governor of the apex bank.
Such phrases like “banking reforms”, “banking crisis”, “rot in the banking system” are now common buzz words even among the rich and poor, learned and illiterates.
He has a rich pedigree and robust record including one as the past group managing director/chief executive officer of First Bank Plc, Nigeria's oldest bank and one of the biggest financial institutions in Africa.
Sanusi rose to the position of CEO having held the position of executive director, Risk & Management Control from where he championed remarkable developments in the bank’s enterprise risk and management control mechanisms.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that the CBN governor now wears a revolutionary toga sown by his supporters since August 14, when he sacked the chief executives of five banks; Intercontinental, Oceanic, Afribank, Union Bank and FinBank - for allegedly awarding non-performing loans to the tune of about N780 billion. Another intervention in five other banks; Spring Bank, Wema Bank, BankPHB and Unity Bank generated equally the same cheers and jeers.
His critics said the reforms could have been handled better. They are quick to conjure up ethnic and religious agenda to discredit him.
Some said that the governor is a victim of ethnic and sectional prejudice with the belief that people from certain sections of the country are lower in the intelligence hierarchy.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that most critics of Sanusi accuse him of replacing inefficiency with incompetence and wastefulness with profligacy.
Only mature handling of the revolution can starve distrust and widening of sectional divide in the country.