SHAREHOLDERS HOPES DASHED OVER N85BN LOSS
With loss of over N85 billion to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reform programmes, shareholders in the nationalized banks are plunking their dashed hopes to swing investments into other portfolios.
Most of the shareholders who could not raise enough funds to actualize their business investment blame their inability to what they call reckless actions of the CBN; some added that the economy of the nation cannot be doing well when citizens' economy is not doing well.
They believe that CBN as the regulator of banks has the right to recommend removal of bank chief executives to the board and shareholders of any of the banks but not to administer outright sack.
Mr. Boniface Okezie, Chairman, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN) in a chat with Daily Sun said that CBN did right by detecting fraud in the banking industry but goofed when it sacked and appointed CEOs by itself.
'The fact that CBN appointed the CEOs made it impossible for the management and the board of the banks to work together, as a result the banks were plunged into mess the more. This was why some of them were nationalized. They were nationalized because the native doctors invited to chase away the evil spirits were rather inviting the evil spirits,' he said.
Okezie said that shareholders of the six rescued banks lost a whooping sum of N85 billion as at September 30, 2011. He said that shareholders of Afribank lost N8.7 billion while those of Spring Bank lost N9.7 billion when shareholders of BankPHB plunged N11.5 billion to the exercise.
He said that same thing happened to shareholders of Intercontinental Bank, Oceanic Bank International, Union Bank and FinBank. He noted that Intercontinental Bank shareholders lost N11.9 billion, Oceanic Bank (N14.1bn); Union Bank shareholders (N30.1bn) excluding that of FinBank totaled N85 billion as at the time under review.
He stated that the greatest mistake CBN made after sacking the CEOs was bringing outsiders to manage the banks where most of them have left the banking industry about ten years ago.
Okezie noted that instead of the CEOs driving to transform the banks and exit them from the woods of bankruptcy; they were busy trying to revive their income flow disconnected after they disengaged from active services.
This he said was the main reason why they were unable to manage the ailing banks.
'Under democratic dispensation, it is most inappropriate for Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the CBN Governor to use the language credited to him; I hereby remove you as if we are still in the military era.