In the Grandiose Parlor…

Cecilia Ibru’s story does not add up; there’s more to it than greed, I’m convinced. There‘s a pathological underpinning to her story? As the only female top bank executive in her time, Cecilia was an epitome of success, power and pride to all. In 2009, under her leadership, Oceanic Bank won the 2007 Nigerian Bank of the Year Award. You just don’t flush that down the toilet. But that is what Cecilia did. Continue reading…

Another head-scratching matter manifests again in the home country: How could a man on a 170-count charge of corruption involving the laundering of millions of dollars got discharged and acquitted by the court? At least one of the charges ought to count, right?

Well, probably not, if your name is James Onanefe Ibori, the well connected former governor of oil-rich Delta State. There are two or three possibilities of what happened: Continue reading…

Fugitive Fraudster Enaboifo Becomes Executive Director of Nigeria-Sao-Tome Joint Venture – an interesting read on Sahara Reporters.

The Nigerian state appears gray and stuporous at the moment. Check this out:

Corruption continues

In the last 8 weeks, some big wigs have been docked over financial misappropriation – two former aviation ministers (Babalola Borishade and Femi Fani-Kayode) and an ex-governor (Michael Botmang). There are also fraud allegations against the sitting governor of Oyo state.

In addition, the Osun State election tribunal got entangled in a web of controversies over some telephone conversations between the tribunal Justice and the lawyer to the defendant (the state governor). The tribunal has since passed its verdict in favor of the defendant.

While on elections, it is strange that since the Edo state PDP governor lost the tribunal verdict on the governorship election on March 19 2008, four months ago, the Appeal Court has yet to seat on the case. As long as the appeal stands pending in court, the incumbent remains the substantive governor, even if the tribunal has ruled otherwise. Interesting!

Teachers on strike

All public primary and secondary schools in Nigeria have been on forced holidays following the industrial action of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), a labor organization for primary and secondary schools’ teachers.

The strike is now in week 4, and news media reports indicate there’s no resolution in sight. The Minister of Education, quoted by the media, insists the Federal government has no business dealing with the teachers!

While the NUT impasse ensures, Nigerian governors and public administrators wasted some 30 million naira congratulating the president on his birthday on the pages of Nigerian newspapers…on the wrong day!

NNPC buys protection

Yesterday, this blog reported that the NNPC, Nigerian-richest public corporation has been paying monthly ‘protection fees’ to the Niger-delta militias.

Probe panel under probe

Today, the Nigerian Tribune drops another bombshell: “Power probe panel under probe – Over N100m bribe allegations.”

The “power probe panel” is the same House of Representatives panel investigating how the administration of former president Obasanjo handled the electricity projects between 1999- 2007. It has been more than two months since the panel finished work, but yet to formally publish its recommendations as expected. Some of its discoveries have been discussed on this blog.

Power generation has dropped even below 2004-levels at the moment, even as the nation waits patiently to hear from its president on his ‘emergency power plan’… It’s been more than 12 months since the announcement, can you believe that?

Zenith Bank Plc – one of the top three banks in Nigeria announced a pre-tax profit of 20 billion Naira this week; this is a 57-percent increase over the N13 billion recorded in the previous year, according to online news report from Nigeria. Oceanic Bank too posted gross earnings of N31 billion for its first quarter result ended December 31, 2007.

Virtually all banks have been posting mouth-watering profit figures lately, and if – like me – you hare been wondering how accurate those numbers are, you are not alone. Although there are some out of the 25 banks with long history and solid foundation, there is something about the numbers that makes me uneasy given the failed banks era of we saw in the 80s. We are not alone, others are scratching their heads as well.

Two recent newspaper reports have questioned the “sudden boom” in the banking sector and offer reasons and information why “all that glitter may not be gold” in the bank vaults.

Chijama Ogbu writes via Nigeria Punch, “…just as the general outlook appears good, the bankers are beginning to tread dangerous paths again… These days, growth indexes are hardly supported by performance history or financial fundamentals. Figures just keep leaping to your face, as each bank tries to portray itself as a bank of prodigious abilities.” The article is titled: Secrets behind banks’ huge profits.

Chijama – whose article is primarily driven by insider information states: “I recently spoke with a banker, who was until recently a managing director of one of the new generation banks in the country. What he told me are the odd things banks do to make huge profits…” and “some of the profits being declared by the banks were mere paper profits, meant to deceive their shareholders.”

According to him, one of the ways they jack up their profit profile is to suspend major capital expenditure till they are captured in their financial report, only for it to be spent immediately after. That way it reflects on the account as part of the banks’ worth, when in actual sense the money is no longer there.

Read the article in full, please.

The other article is Ijeoma Nwogwugwu’s “Nigeria banks Nigeria: My Mercedes is Bigger Than Yours”. [ Click to read (PDF)].

This article and the other speak to the sharp behind-the-scene practices orchestrated by bank top management.

Ijeoma wonders: “Why do banks keep having to go back to the capital market to raise more funds to expand their businesses in order to attract more customers and mobilise cheap deposits that they will eventually be made available to a select few?”

Valid question. One would have expected with the increase in capital base which stands now at 25 billion Naira at least; loans would be more accessible and services would be better, right?

This has not happened yet. Ijeoma adds:

Every time these banks go to the capital market in search of funds, we all rush head long to subscribe for their shares without attempting to read between the lines. We also fail to carefully dissect their prospectus and demand to know from the banks how previous funds they raised from the market was deployed and if they were utilised efficiently. We are all lured by the capital gains to be made when their share prices move up (that is if we are fortunate to get our share certificates on time. But the registrars ensure that never happens), but we fail to pay attention to other performance indicators that matter just as much. In the process, we fail to notice that half of the banks are posting a negative growth on their earnings per share [EPS], because each time the basket of shares is increased, their EPS is diluted.

Economists and financial analysts in the house, where are you? Can this be happening in Nigeria? Not again!

Related article:
Nigeria: War of the Banks

The decision of the top brass of the Nigerian Police Force and the Presidency to send [tag]Nuhu Ribadu[/tag], the EFCC boss, on a compulsory one-year study leave is one that has generated quite a bit of rancor within the Nigerian community, both home and abroad. If you are like me – and have been wondering what Ribadu stands to gain from studying at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies at Kuru: not much, and “he would probably not choose Kuru”.

Yemi Adebowale writes via ThisDay:

Fighting financial crimes, much less arresting ex-governors for corruption and prosecuting them in the court of law, is not one of the diets on offer at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (or the National Institute)…Its primary objective is serving as the nation’s foremost policy “think-tank”, developing a crop of top class “technocrats of high intellectual capacity who will conceptualise and anchor the implementation of innovative and dynamic policy initiatives and strategies critical for national development.”

[tag]Nigeria[/tag]

” IG orders Ribadu to proceed on 1-yr course“, Nigerian Tribune.

THE battle to sack the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, may have been shifted to his immediate constituency where fresh plot to ease him out of office is allegedly coming from the top hierarchy of the Nigeria Police Force.

While politicians who are not comfortable with his activities are said to have been pressurising President Umaru Yar’Adua to sack the anti-corruption chief, the leadership of the police force, which is reportedly uncomfortable with his profile, is said to be spear-heading the new angle of “the war against Ribadu” project.

I’m speechless! This must be a joke!

Despite the EFCC lapses, Ribadu is one of the best officers (if not the best) in the Nigerian Police Force. Despite overwhelming influences from the powerful political community, he has done what can best imagined in Nigeria – fighting corruption.

If this ill-timed study leave indeed marks Ribadu’s exit, I can only hope that his replacement finds the courage to continue the fight.