Imagine someone collecting over N700 billion from a bank as loans, and then it will eventually be written off as bad debt just because the man or his company is untouchable or well-connected.
This culture of arrogant impunity is holding Nigeria back. This was the nonsense former CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was fighting and made enemies for doing so.
Many banks were distressed as a result of taking billions of depositors' funds and putting them into high risk investments in total contempt of banking regulations or guidelines.
As long as powerful people are not punished for breaking our laws or putting other people's money at risk, this impunity will continue unchecked.
As former Governor of Katsina State, the late President Umaru Musa was said to have summoned a contractor who was fond of collecting government's money and abandoning the projects, and warned him of dire consequences for such behaviour.
According the report, Yar'adu told the contractor that "alfalmar da kawai zan iya yimaka shine ka gama wannan aiki.(The only favour can do for you is to complete these projects.)
When Umaru Mutallab took Sanusi to President Umaru Musa Yar'adua when he was being considered for the CBN job, the late President reportedly told Sanusi: "I have an important responsibility for you. Are you ready to do the job with the fear of God? Yar'adua was said to have repeated this to Sanusi eyeball to eyeball with crystal clarity and for the sake of emphasis. Yar'adua's words weighed profoundly on Sanusi's mind as he left the Presidential Villa. The rest is history.
To work effectively, you must step on toes. Sanusi once said that it is only in Nigeria that you need courage to punish a crook. Sanusi's banking reforms met with resistance and vacuous conspiracy theories, including allegations that he "wanted to destroy southern economic and financial successes."
Undaunted, he started holding banking CEOs accountable for putting their banks into distress, and risking depositors funds at risk. Financial indiscipline and recklessness is not a North vs South issue.
The smear campaign ultimately collapsed because the allegations against the banking chiefs were unassailable. They were successfully prosecuted by the EFCC. Sanusi published the lists of the so-called bad debtors and to avoid further embarrassments, they agreed to refunds the heavy loans they collected and refused to pay. If Sanusi didn't adopt such tough posture, these big men wouldn't have paid back the money.
The absence of punishment promotes impunity. Banks CEOs and their friends are powerful. It takes a bold CBN leadership to deal with big men who play ducks and drakes with other people's money which is eventually written off as bad debt. You must go after the mafia, or the mafia will bring the system to its knees.
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