REVIEW TAKEOVER OF OCEANIC BANK, OTHERS –WORLD BANK, IMF

Unless there is a last minute U-turn, the Federal Government may call for a total review of the policy guidelines used by the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2009 to take over six Nigerian commercial banks.
If government takes this step, it would be acting on the letter it received from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), following a complaint by some Nigerian shareholders.
According to a Presidency source, the two international bodies forwarded a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, dated March 23, 2014 and signed by Christine Lagarde of IMF and Dr. Jim Yona Kim of World Bank respectively.
The joint letter stated that it had earlier received a complaint to this effect by the shareholders of banks in Nigeria. “It would therefore be appropriate for a review of the processes adopted by the Central Bank of Nigeria during the acquisition of the affected banks,” the letter noted.
It is also on record that the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had earlier called for audit of AMCON activities over the years.
Sources within the presidency said President Jonathan was considering a review of the takeover of the six banks and very soon that process would come to play. “We were waiting for the appointment of a substantive CBN governor; now that that has been done, the process would begin,” the source stressed.
Shareholders of Nigerian banks had earlier written to the two world bodies. In their letter, they stated that Mallam Lamido Sanusi, then Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, intervened in 2009 in pursuit of what he termed a reform of the Nigerian banking sector. To be specific, the banks include Bank PHB Plc, Afribank Plc, Spring Bank Plc, Union Bank of Nigeria, Intercontinental Bank Plc, and Oceanic Bank Plc.
When our Correspondent visited AMCON head office on Alfred Rewane Road in Ikoyi, Lagos, a security man at the gate made a call to an unknown official, and when he returned said, “Oga said he cannot speak to you. He said it is only the Managing Director of AMCON, Mustapha Chike-Obi, that speaks for the agency.”
However, the Public Relations Officer of AMCON, Mr. Kayode Lambo, said the corporation was not aware of the letter. The story, he stressed, was not true and could not be true.
Source: The Union