FG may review acquisition of Bank PHB, Oceanic, four others

Strong indications emerged last week that the Federal Government may call for a total review of the policy guidelines used by the former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, in executing the takeover of six deposit money banks in 2009.

This is coming on the heels of a petition by some aggrieved Nigerian shareholders to the World Bank, IMF and the Presidency.

The two international bodies, according to a Presidency source in a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan and signed by Christine Lagarde of IMF and Dr. Jim Yong Kim, of World Bank respectively, had requested for a review of the process.

The banks in question include Bank PHB Plc, Afribank Plc, Spring Bank Plc, Union Bank of Nigeria, Intercontinental Bank Plc, and Oceanic Bank Plc.

Observers have argued that should the government proceed with the review, it would be leaning to the letter it received from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), following some Nigerian shareholders’ complaints.

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 Central Bank of Nigeria during the acquisition of the affected banks.”

A Presidency source said President Goodluck Jonathan is considering a review of the take-over of the six banks and that very soon the process would come to play. “We were waiting for the appointment of a substantive CBN governor, now that has been done, the process will begin,” the source stressed.

In their letter to the World Bank and IMF, the shareholders had stated that Mallam Lamido Sanusi, Governor of CBN, intervened in 2009 in pursuit of what he termed a reform of the Nigerian banking sector to illegally take over their investment.

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