The crisis central banker looks to the exit door would Sanuni Steps Down in 2014 – Globasure News Updates.

This judgement has now been registered as judgement of the Lagos High Court and altogether, Mr Akingbola will pay Access Bank the sum of N212, 294, 089, 160.51 in accordance with Justice Burton’s ruling. In a country with run-away criminality, only a tough central banker determined to clean the sleaze in the banking sector would insist that the rules be applied against Akingbola or whoever. People should not forget in a hurry that it was Sanusi’s leadership that turned in the evidence to achieve this important conviction. Those who lost the worth of their money after the collapse of the value of the shares of Intercontinental Bank would certainly appreciate this judgement. Earlier, Cecelia Ibru, the erstwhile Managing Director of Oceanic Bank, had been punished by the Nigerian courts for criminal self-enrichment at the expense of the depositors of the bank.

Sanusi has consistently cal-led for improvement in our infrastructure – power supply, modern transportation and efficient financial payment system – as a precondition for attracting meaningful foreign investment. In his reckoning, a fiscally responsible regime can have beneficial effect on the management of the national economy if it is coupled with a sincere and determined fight against graft.

To give effect to these ideas, CBN Governor has been passionate about getting the apex bank to intervene in some critical sectors of the economy including agriculture, aviation and power. Through a scheme called NIRSAL or Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing Agricultural Lending System, banks are encouraged to borrow money to commercial farmers as the funds have been de-risked by the CBN. Equally, timely loans granted Nigerian airlines helped prevent a couple of them from shutting down, in addition to buying new equipment to enhance safety. Sanusi’s CBN has also assisted in the expansion and installation of new equipment in some of the remodelled airports in the country.

Also, unknown to the Nigerian public, some of the Independent Power Projects (IPP) were financed through loans that the CBN disbursed via the Bank of Industry (BOI). The IPPs are slowly coming on stream and their output is already complementing electricity supply obtained from our hydro-electric plants. The Bank is also establishing EDCs or Enterprise Development Centres, one each in geo-political zone, aimed at imparting business and entrepreneurial skills to young men and women as part of a frontal attack against unemployment.

Sanusi’s flurry of reforms also included the introduction of cashless policy which aims at significantly reducing the movement of physical cash in the Nigerian economy. Under this regime, customers are encouraged to conduct transactions electronically using their phones, ATM cards, internet, etc. Although Lagos blazed the trail of the cashless economy, six new states Abuja, Abia, Anambra, Kano, Ogun and Rivers States have followed suit. The cashless policy will enhance revenue generation and check corruption because in addition to curtailing the movement of physical cash, it will leave traces of all transactions along the channels used. Lagos is already benefitting as its IGR has increased by 6% as a result of the cashless policy.

Thanks to Sanusi’s administration, many states of the federation hitherto under-represented in terms of employment by the Bank have now had their indigenes recruited in order to achieve balance in accordance with the federal character demands. Indigenes of States like Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara, etc, have for a long time been denied the opportunity to serve in CBN. It is such a serious scandal that a bank central to Nigeria’s economy has for a long time shut out some sections of our citizens from employment opportunities. As a corollary to that, the Bank has just employed Bunmi Adebiyi, its first visually challenged employee, as part of affirmative action to grant access to employment opportunities for all qualified Nigerians, irrespective of their disabilities. Mrs Adebiyi who holds a Master’s degree in Software Engineering has worked with the Deutsche Bank in London and New York before joining the services of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Similarly, in line with global best practices, Sanusi has prepared the apex Bank for what is called ISO 27001 certification. The ISO 27001is an information management and security system (ISMS) meant to preserve and protect confidentiality, integrity and availability (or CIA) of the Bank’s information. As a regulatory authority, the CBN must protect its vital information and safeguard its physical security as well, in line with what obtains in other climes. The ISO Certification is being facilitated by the British Standard Institute (BSI) which has already recommended that the Bank be certified, having completed the mandatory stage 2 audit. Although the certificate lasts only three years, if the culture of protecting and preserving information and improving physical security is sustained by the Bank, it could be renewed.

Sanusi has persistently called on the Nigerian elite to accord dignity to the Nigerian masses by meeting their basic needs in terms of provision of education, health care and employment. The Governor, not long ago revealed harrowing statistics of Nigerian children out of school and the figure for North Western Nigeria is rather scandalous. To Sanusi, lack of basic services for our people and abject poverty are the cause of insecurity and this cannot be reversed by trillion Naira security vote. He had also in another forum drawn attention to the huge capital flight caused by Nigerian parents who pay fees to foreign schools where their children study.

Some Nigerians think that Sanusi is too controversial; they mistake his bluntness for arrogance, his commentary on social issues as politics, his commitment to royalty as a distraction from his primary job, the outgoing governor has, most are agreed, managed the CBN excellently in the last four years. Some of Sanusi’s sublime accomplishments are not quite discernible at the moment, but in the fullness of time they will be realised. Having announced that he will not offer himself for additional tenure after 2014, here is wishing Malam Babba a restful exit from the demands of the apex job and the very best of whatever he wants to do in the future.