Central Bank Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was aghast when informed that the CBN may need to put as much as two trillion naira to revive the banking sector. That is close to the amount of money that ‘vanished’ from commercial banks. For the man at the helm of Nigeria’s biggest bank before his elevation, that is saying much. But even more fundamental is the issue of corruption, not only in banks, but in the entire private sector.
It is the norm to attribute corruption in Nigeria to the public sector. Indeed, every failing in the country is the handwork of civil servants. When it is mentioned that the poverty rate in Nigeria has gone up from 46 percent to 76 percent over the last 13 years, civil servants get the blame because of the assumption that corruption, lack of capacity and mismanagement is exclusive to the public sector. The World Bank stated that Nigeria has lost well over $300 billion during the last three decades to corruption.
The revelations from the banking sector in the last few months have demonstrated clearly that if corruption is to blame for the ills of our country, then civil servants, and indeed, the public sector cannot be held solely responsible for sad state of affairs. We do not need Hilary Clinton to remind us of the wasted $300 billion or the fact that ‘they don’t tell you how many hospitals and roads could have been built. They don’t tell you how many schools could have opened, or how many more Nigerians could have attended college, or how many mothers might have survived childbirth if that money had been spent differently’.
That the estimated $300 billion has been looted is not in contention. That properly utilized, that money would have made Nigeria the envy of not only Africa, but the rest of the world is not in question. What is begging for an answer is who took the money? Undoubtedly, the money was meant for public works, but was diverted by civil servants serving under military and civilian administrations. But who owns the banks? Who has the expertise to launder money? Who has the skills to bury stolen money under layers upon layers of legitimate businesses? Surely, operators in the private sector - that supposedly efficient, clean and ethical component of the economy would have played pivotal roles in the diversion of looted funds?
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But not content with hiding and managing looted public funds, some bankers decided to take a bite of the corruption cherry. Ironically, they proved that they are as efficient as advertized, and demonstrated their innate capacities by practically stealing every kobo of depositors money entrusted to their care. The story of the trillions of naira lost by investors in the stock market may never be completely told, but what happened in the market is a story of unrivaled and unbridled greed. All the operators knew that there was no basis for the mind-boggling gains being made in the market, but lacked the capacity for restraint. The millions of ruined investors and impoverished families all over the country better illustrate this point.
Another example is the case of the former Managing Director of Intercontinental Bank Plc Mr. Erastus Akingbola. According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, this man alone allegedly made off with about 400 billion naira worth of depositors money. James Ibori and Peter Odili were governors of oil-producing Delta and Rivers state respectively for eight years, but the EFCC has not proffered allegations of that much theft against them, even if combined.
The public sector in Nigeria has millions of workers, but with the current minimum wage of seven thousand five hundred, most of them are at the point of starvation. While not justifying theft under any guise, it is easier to excuse a father of five with an income of 15,000 per month who asks for bribe to enable him pay his children’s school fees than an unmarried banker with an income 300,000 per month who steals depositors’ money to acquire an extra BMW. It is worth remembering that the salary of a newly employed fresh graduate banker is at par with that of a director in the public sector. It takes 20 years or more to become director.
The kind of theft that has taken place in our banks in the four short years of post consolidation has left civil servants and other public sector workers looking like angels. The entire banking sector workforce is less than 100,000. A few crooks among them have, at the risk of generalization nearly crippled the entire Nigerian economy. Add to them the plethora of crooked stock broking firms, insurance companies and other private sector operators you wonder the sorts of underhand deals that go on virtually unreported.
Ultimately, a thief – whether in the public or private sector is a crook. And crooks are what we have everywhere.
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