CELEBRATING KOLADE @ EIGHTY

 "I am personally grateful to God for granting me the privilege of interacting relatively closely with Dr Kolade in the recent past. My prayer and I know it’s that of so many others, is that his godly deposits in me, such as they are, through his words and actions will continue to bear fruits in my life; the selfsame fruits that have stood him  out as an exemplary leader"

Yesterday, Dr Christopher Agbolade Kolade, a Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) turned eighty. Appropriately, a birthday seminar held in honour of the cerebral, technocrat, boardroom icon, man of integrity and an exemplary witness of Christ. Professor (Pastor) Yemi Osinbajo, a former Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice spoke on the topic, “Teach Us To Number Our Days – A Legacy of Accountability” at the strictly by invitation event. Venue was Freedom Park on Lagos Island.

Yes indeed, his is a legacy of accountability. His character, his integrity, as I have had occasion to say before, is one of the very few consensuses among us Nigerians. That is a feat, given the paucity of trust in our land caused by the almost hourly incidences of betrayal of trust by leaders who turned out to be clay-footed giants.

I join members of his nuclear family, the Managing Business For Christ (MBFC) and his many other families to wish this man of God all the joy that his heart can carry, continued peace and rest in God and continued excellent health, physical and spiritual as he begins the last third of the Biblically promised minimum of 120 years on this side – if the Lord tarries.

I am personally grateful to God for granting me the privilege of interacting relatively closely with Dr Kolade in the recent past. My prayer and I know it’s that of so many others, is that his godly deposits in me, such as they are, through his words and actions will continue to bear fruits in my life; the selfsame fruits that have stood him  out as an exemplary leader.

Incidentally, one of the things I have learnt from this great man of God is his total and complete dependence on the Holy Spirit. That is what all Christians ought to do, but because we’ve had year and years of self-dependence through secular education, we not only fail to do it; we virtually deny that it is possible. To those of that school of thought, here are a few examples from the book, “He Made The Difference, The Dynamic Story of Ambassador Christopher Kolade in Britain” written by Pamela Chinekwe and published in Nigeria by KP Books.

Why he allowed the book to be written

“I walked into the large office and the first thing that struck me was how a room can tell so much about the person who inhabits it. The simple, neat and elegant furnishing carefully devoid of any frills, stated a lot about my host.

“‘Welcome Pamela, what do you have to show me?’…I dug into my folder and came up with it. Taking a deep breath, I placed it in his hands, and then waited in anticipation. He looked at the contents of the folder I had given him.  As he glanced up at me, my heart lurched wickedly in my chest. What is he going to say? His face had this look of total disbelief. He said nothing for a moment. The quiet humming of the computer on his desk sounded louder than my grandma’s old clock in my tense mind. I wanted this so much... He finally spoke, ‘I do not think I should be allowing this. Everything I have done here has been my job, nothing out of the ordinary. ‘

“‘No, it is not.’  I looked around for where that had come from and saw no one. Somehow, I had opened my mouth to speak my thought out loud!

“‘I beg your pardon?’  he asked. I am sure he could not imagine he had heard right as well.

“I cleared my throat, took a gasp of air and blurted with all the passion I could muster, ‘Sir, if I may say so, you did your job. But your job is a job no one was ready to do. You did something no one had dared to, until now. This is not something we should just brush under the carpet, but something that must be documented so that others can learn from your experiences and techniques. I have carried out my research, all I need is your approval to publish the truth, and I hope you will let me…’ I waited for him to say something and finally after two minutes he looked at me again and said, ‘Go ahead and do it, let me know if you need anything from me.’ My jaw actually dropped wide open. No words could come out of my mouth.

“He continued by way of explaining his change of mind, saying, ‘I asked the Holy Spirit what to tell you and He said to me, if she says she wants to do this, let her. Although I would never have approved this ordinarily, you can go ahead. Only stick to the facts.’”

Why he accepted the job as High Commissioner to Britain

“When I asked him what had been running through his mind during this period (when he was appointed), the High Commissioner answered, ‘Well, I told myself that if there are truly problems of this magnitude happening in our High Commission, someone had to try to solve it. If the Lord has called us to go there, we might as well obey.’”

Dichotomy between his work and his faith?

“…I asked him how he managed to balance his faith and life as a man of God with his secular job as a High Commissioner. He gave me that smile that I had now gotten quite accustomed to and he replied and said, ‘My starting position is that there is nothing that I am involved in that God didn’t lead me into. I took up this role as High Commissioner because God indicated to me that he wanted me to take it… He would give me an assignment or permit me to take it because He knows that I will do my best to be faithful to him. In my day to day decision making, my day opens with the conviction that whatever opportunities come to me that day must be used to serve God. I must not assume that there are certain times of the day that I work for myself or I am working for someone else because God is interested in everything I do; He can give me an opportunity to serve Him through anything.’”

Happy Birthday sir.

PS: I seize this opportunity to say Happy Birthday tom y wife,  my Treasure, whose day it is today. LOVE YOU LOADS.

OPEN LETTER TO NCC: PLEASE CALL DIRECT-ON-PC TO ORDER (2)

"The rest of this sordid tale of corporate rape is contained in the first part of this letter which was published last week. I urge you to read it, if you can. My request as I stated it then is that 'you kindly use your good offices as EVC at NCC to step in, to ensure that the right and just thing is done in my case and hopefully in all such similar cases, henceforth...'"

Dear Dr Juwah,

When I wrote the first part of this open letter last week, I was under no illusions that I would get an immediate response from National Communications Commission or Direct-On-PC. And so that none has come is no surprise at all. Truth is the surprise would have been if it had been otherwise. From the onset therefore, I know that this is more likely to be a marathon, rather than a dash.

However, I am not about to come to any conclusions yet about the whys and whys-not of the non-reaction from your end, dear Vice Chairman. I am in fact willing to concede that neither you nor your media minders, two of whom I recognize are thorough professionals while on this side of the communication divide, might not have seen this letter, for whatever reasons. It is for that reason that I am putting up this as something of a reminder, in case this medium gets luckier this time.

As I stated last week, a company known as Direct-On-PC, offering data services under the supervision of your commission, has been taking its clients for granted in the quality of service it renders and its attitude to righting the wrongs it frequently does.  I explained then that I was resorting to this medium because all my attempts to use the complaint facility on your website have failed. It seems to have been designed for issues concerning GSM operators only! 

I used my SOHO data package Account No SNG00000000000027508 opened with User Name Akano on October 20, 2011 as a case study. In the ten-month period, I  reported in the first part of this letter, there has been only two 30-day cycles out of at least eight (allowing for the period I delayed renewal) that I didn’t have to call Customer Care numbers  and/or send emails with “connection failure” complaints.

My complaint is that DoPC has a cavalier, in your face, arrogant, take-it-or-leave-it attitude to what they call “compensation” for loss of service during periods when through no fault of the client, days and data allowance are unutilized.

Firstly, they are never proactive about it. They terminate services on schedule even where there is an on-going case of loss of service, blaming it on pre-programming.  Next they take their time in processing the so-called “compensation”. It is not unusual for the ladies at customer care to tell you, “your compensation is being processed” or “awaiting signature.” And this can go on for a week or more.

Finally, when the almighty bosses have signed the “compensation”, it bears absolutely no relationship with either the number of lost days or the data balance on your account.  The particular case in point for which I am insisting on full compensation will throw some light on this unjust practice by DoPC.

On August 9, I wrote to the company as follows: “Dear DoPC, My SOHO account has been at best erratic since it was renewed. In the last one week, it's been absolutely useless! Connection failure is all I've got!  Can this be resolved, please? Thanks”

That began a long  agonizing interaction by email and phone which ended my services or more correctly non-service was terminated with efficient alacrity on August  25 2012 at the expiry of the 30-day subscription with 8.01GB  or about 55% of my data allowance still unutilized through DoPC’s  inefficiency.

As I stated before I wrote several other emails to Dear DoPC, many of which were reproduced verbatim in the first part of this letter. For ease of reference, I’ll repeat two of them:

First, this one that has proven almost prophetic: “There has been virtually no service on this account still. Since I reluctantly renewed nearly three weeks ago, I have been subjected to untold frustration and agony. In what has proved to be an accident, it worked late last night for about an hour, but has since been returning "connection failure". Any moment soon, the subscribed period will be over with well over 70% of data unused. Then another round of negotiation for "compensation" will start!  I feel conned, to put it mildly. Why, DoPC, why?”

Towards the end of the 30-day subscription when virtually nothing has changed, I wrote to them making a specific demand: “May I inform you that in the face of the VERY POOR service I experienced this past 20 days or so, I am yet to utilise more that (sic) half of my data allowance. Therefore my service expiry date needs to be extended by at least three weeks. This is only reasonable and just because of the inability to use that which was paid for was caused by you. Please treat as IMMEDIATE. Meanwhile, one can only hope that the slight improvement in service experienced over the public holiday period will continue now that work is resuming. Thanks.”

The rest of this sordid tale of corporate rape is contained in the first part of this letter which was published last week. I urge you to read it, if you can.  My request as I stated it then is that “you to use your good offices as EVC at NCC to step in, to ensure that the right and just thing is done in my case and hopefully in all such similar cases, henceforth...”

Again as I stated then, should you be unable to help, should I be left at the mercy of a company that fails, refuses or neglects to provide full service for money collected, then, I reserve the right to take any further legitimate steps to protect my right as a consumer.

Incidentally, since the first part of this letter was published, a number of DoPC customers have written to share their experiences with me. I have started compiling them for use as we might deem necessary - a class action, not exempted.

Thanks a million, for your time.

Your Compatriot - REMI

 

 

“SO, WHO INDEED WAS MRS IBRU?”

I was devastated at the news two Fridays ago that Cecilia Ibru had sentenced to 18 months imprisonment in a plea bargaining deal that would see her spend six months in jail and forfeit assets worth N190billion to the state.

I was devastated because I had never, for once, thought she would be found guilty of anything but corporate governance issues of the poor judgment kind; or at worst some minor misdemeanors resulting from a desire to lend a helping hand to persons or institutions in need of support for which they may have been technically unqualified. In the a three-part serial I did  in 2009,when  the Central Bank of Nigeria sacked her and took over the running of Oceanic Bank Plc, among other persons and banks, I stated my position very clearly. While not giving her a premature bill of health, I certainly was unwilling to associate her with evil.

So enamoured was I of the woman’s mix of secular success and zeal for things of God that I once wrote inviting to her to speak at a Luncheon on “The Place of Christian Ethics in Business and Corporate Governance,” which I was organising as part of the launch activities of KINGDOMPeople. It was a demonstration of the very high esteem in which I held her (and her Intercontinental Bank Plc colleague, whose case is still in court) as a banker who exemplified a commitment to the faith she profess, in her public activities. Referring to that duo, I had written: “For me, they are people who made their name, fame and resources available for the propagation of the gospel and therefore role models who should have things to impart to others”.

I stated in that August 2009 piece: “Penultimate Friday, both banking icons were among chief executive officers and executive directors of five banks made to step down from office, on the orders of the Central Bank of Nigeria. My heart truly goes out to them, and I have joined many others in praying for them. As I perused the facts and figures that have been placed in the public domain, reactions from several quarters and the usual interplay of factors and interests in policy formulation and execution, a number of questions beg for answers…It is important to emphasise that these CEOs and their executive boards have, as I write this, not been accused of any criminal activities. The issues are those of risk management, which is basically one of judgment and its resultant effect on the strength of their operations; they are issues of corporate governance”.

Even CBN Governor Lamido Sanusi at the onset either didn’t know the extent of what he was unearthening or he sold a dummy when he told ThisDay Board of Editors: “…In every capitalist environment, if management loses a lot of money, it will go. It is not a crime. The MDs of all the banks behind the mortgage crisis in other parts of the world took the right action and resigned. They did not steal money. They did not commit a crime. But they ran an institution in a manner that cost it its franchise, or cost its shareholders money or placed their depositors at risk. They put their firms at risk and they took responsibility for it. So, it is in this light that the action that we have taken should be seen. “

However, I admitted to goose-stepping in the second article when charges began to fly around in the media and subsequently in court. I had written in part then: “…Chief Mrs Cecilia Ibru of Oceanic Bank (was) declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC ‘in connection with fraudulent abuse of credit process, insider trading, capital market manipulation and money laundering running into billions of Naira.’...Pause a bit, dear reader and contemplate this dramatic twist to the tale…Ibru, the stately wife of one of Nigeria’s foremost pioneer entrepreneurs, Michael Ibru, top member of one of Nigeria’s biggest Pentecostal churches, whose bank’s board of directors is chaired by the highly respected former capital market icon, Apostle Hayford Alile, being accused of money laundering and capital market manipulation?”

But, as events have now proven, the unthinkable did happen. Chief Mrs Ibru went on a grab binge, cornering for herself and her family as much as she could. In the end, assets to the humongous amount of N190 billion were traced to her. It’s absolutely unbelievable that anyone who sits under the Word of God, even occasionally, could sink to that depth of materialist abyss!

Tolu Ogunlesi put the size of the assets in perspective in his column last week this way: “ N190 billion - legally or illegally acquired - is not ‘chicken-change'. I needed to remind us about that, considering how inured to the word "billion" we have become, the fallout of the way our reckless politicians like to throw it around. Ibru's N190 billion is more than half of the Nigeria Police Force's total budget for 2010; and more than Nigeria's entire federal health budget. N190 billion will get you onto Forbes List. Femi Otedola got onto it in 2009 with roughly that same amount - $1.2 billion…I did a simple calculation: if you gave loans of $1,000 (N150,000) each to one million Nigerian small-business owners, you would only have spent N150 billion, still less than Mrs. Ibru's N190 billion”.

Yet, the culprit here is not a corrupt do-or-die politician, a drug dealer or some other devil’s disciple with no claim to knowing God or serving Him. Tolu recalled how that “a few years ago, at the invitation of a friend”, he “attended an evening fellowship at her home in Ikoyi, where she hosted the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God)…” You can therefore excuse him when he asked this question: “So, who indeed was Mrs. Ibru? Was she a devoted Pillar of the Church and Work of God in Nigeria …or was she a bank fraudster, or both?” If both, how many more of us are like that? I wonder now; I truly do. Lord, have mercy!

TELECOMS: A NIGERIAN STORY WITHOUT NIGERIANS? (3)

We emphasised, however, “that the issue of integrity is critical…because…if there is a grave national drought in Nigeria; it is in the integrity department. And I am sure you and I know it. I know also that Dr Omolayole knows it; otherwise, he would not have raised it...So, whilst we debate the glass ceilings and the consumer statistics, I wish to state that we need to take a closer look at the subject of integrity in the work place, at ALL levels. This is because, I believe in the injunction of the Bible that says, ‘…if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged’ (1 Corinthians 11:31).”

The paradox of a burgeoning telecommunication sector in Nigeria with no Nigerian in the cockpit of the top corporate players was recently highlighted by IT& Telecoms Digest. We have said that the situation brought to the fore by the recent replacement of ‘the last Nigerian standing’, Zain’s Bayo Ligali, with a foreigner, is a powerful reminder of the situation among the multinationals, about which Dr Michael Omolayole raised issues early last year.

In drawing attention to the development, Omolayole, a one-time CEO of Lever Brothers Plc, a multinational now known as Unilever, had raised a number of questions similar to those being raised or implied by the IT journal as it affects the telecoms sector. We had encapsulated the questions into two main ones, namely: “Is a glorious chapter of Nigerian history being written without Nigerians and if so, should we be worried?”

Given that even companies in the sector owned by Nigerians have not proven nationalistic in their choice of helmsmen, however, we thought to beginning by asking why? The ‘why’ question became even more important with the magazine’s expose of the fact that many of the companies that have closed shop, unable to benefit from the boom in the sector were Nigerian-run. This was why we found ourselves asking these questions: Could it therefore be that a fear of losing their investments or of failing to maximise their returns is the reason Nigerians are not being considered as CEOs? Is such fear founded on empirical evidence? If it is, is it the result of paucity of technical expertise, or competence, or experience or integrity, or a combination of some or all of these? Or are there other factors?

It is incontrovertible that no rational group of investors will put someone at the head of their management team without consideration of his/her ability to ensure healthy returns on their investment. It is therefore certain that in choosing CEO, protection of investment and maximization of profit, rather than any primordial consideration have pride of place. So, it stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if a preponderance of Nigerians who have executive-managed telecoms outfits have ran them aground, business barons would avoid them, plague-like?

Now, if it is implied that more Nigerian helmsmen have failed in this booming sector; what factors are responsible? I make bold to say that it cannot be technical expertise because, as the telecoms digest explained, most of the foreigners in charge do not have engineering knowledge being mainly of either management and accounting pedigree. Also, competence, as in capability and effectiveness can hardly be a problem. Competent Nigerians abound in virtually every aspect of life. Many have and continue to make their marks internationally. Ligali, for instance, was head-hunted by Celtel, which became Zain Nigeria, from Unilever where he had headed its operations in a number of countries. There may well seem to be a bit of challenge with industry experience, which cannot be of great moment, since corporate management expertise is supposed to be industry-blind. That leaves our ‘why’ checklist with only one item, integrity. And that is one issue about which, I truly wish I could be as dismissive as I have been with other factors.

In our commentary on Dr Omolayole’s 2008 newspaper article lamenting the displacement of Nigerians from multinational companies executive suites, we noted that the most critical of the posers he raised was the one he couched in these words: “Are all Nigerian top managers non-performing or adjudged by expatriates to be bitten by the bug of lack of integrity?” (Emphasis added).

We aligned then with Omolayole’s other concerns articulated in these questions: “What future projections can we make? Has it occurred to multinational owners of large manufacturing outfits, that 99 per cent of the consumers of their products are Nigerians? Is economic nationalism dead, killed by globalisation? Is there now an artificial glass ceiling in the Corporate Boardroom for nationals? That is, a level beyond, which nationals cannot rise. What answers could we possibly give to such questions from our children and grandchildren with regards to this phenomenon?” We also found no fault with his conclusion that: ‘The future of our great country still lies in its ability to harness the potential of its abundant human resources (Human Capital) at the very top levels, be it in Management or Public Service”.

We emphasised, however, “that the issue of integrity is critical…because…if there is a grave national drought in Nigeria; it is in the integrity department. And I am sure you and I know it. I know also that Dr Omolayole knows it; otherwise, he would not have raised it...So, whilst we debate the glass ceilings and the consumer statistics, I wish to state that we need to take a closer look at the subject of integrity in the work place, at ALL levels. This is because, I believe in the injunction of the Bible that says, ‘…if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged’ (1 Corinthians 11:31).”

We align, in the same way, with IT & Telecoms Digest’s concerns about the implications of shutting Nigerians out the cockpit of one of the most successful sectors of the economy and do wish that it be roundly addressed. But we also emphasise today, as we did then, that there is a need to check the “integrity quotient” of the Nigerian executive class - across the board. The corporate governance issues thrown up by the current controversial banking sector “reform”, as yet unproven as they are, do make it imperative that we take a look at this critical area of our national life. And this is not a job for governments; at least not exclusively. A vast majority of our political class is yet to demonstrate immunity to the “bug of lack of integrity.” This is therefore a job for the Church – where the bug, thanks to the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, cannot acquire viral proportions. Then would Nigerians be the heroes of their own glorious story.

TELECOMS: A NIGERIAN STORY WITHOUT NIGERIANS? (2)

He followed his observations with a number of posers: “What has gone wrong and still going wrong? What exactly is happening? Have the majority owners of multinationals lost confidence in Nigerians? A situation where the two biggest Confectionery Companies, two biggest Breweries and two largest detergent companies are being managed by expatriates is worrisome. Are all Nigerian top managers non-performing or adjudged by expatriates to be bitten by the bug of lack of integrity?” There were more: “What future projections can we make? Has it occurred to multinational owners of large manufacturing outfits, that 99 per cent of the consumers of their products are Nigerians? Is economic nationalism dead, killed by globalisation? Is there now an artificial glass ceiling in the Corporate Boardroom for nationals? That is, a level beyond, which nationals cannot rise.

As we were saying, the Nigerian telecommunications sector has been so successful in the last eight years that many of us have had to occasionally pinch ourselves to reassure us that we are not indulging our fantasies! When I see the things that we now routinely do on phone, including “flashing” your children within the home to summon them, I wonder how we ever lived without the mobile phone. Add to the hardly calculable utility value these humongous numbers – 70 million lines from a maximum of 500,000 in 2001; foreign direct investment (FDI) of up to $12billion or N180 trillion at today’s exchange rate; hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs etc and you’ll agree we have nothing short of a miracle.

Here comes the puzzle. Why is the fastest growing telecommunications sector in Africa, and one of the top 10 in the world, run largely by foreigners? IT & Telecoms Digest, the magazine which triggered this had raised the puzzle in these words: “ironically, in spite of this monumental leap forward that the country has achieved in so short a time, it remains a puzzle why there are no Nigerians occupying the chief executive officer position in any of the telecoms companies in the country…In all, the percentage of CEOs of Nigerian extraction is less than 30 percent of the country’s industry total.” It is against this background that we pose the questions: “Is a glorious chapter of Nigerian history being written without Nigerians? If so, should we be worried?”

Before we attempt to find answers to these questions, however, it is pertinent at this juncture, to recall a piece, mentioned here last week, “Omolayole and Integrity in Corporate Governance”. It was a commentary on an article by Dr Michael Omolayole, a highly respected management expert and consultant titled, “Corporate Management: More Questions Than Answers.” In that piece the erudite management scholar had raised similar questions about the dominance of foreigners in the leadership cadre of major companies, particularly multinationals in Nigeria. He recalled how during “the last quarter of the 19th Century to the early 70s of the 20th Century” conglomerates and multinationals in Nigeria “were managed by expatriate personnel especially at the top” and how “the Indigenisation Act in Nigeria in the 70s helped in no small measure to change the status quo.” As a result of that law, he said that “where there was only one Nigerian CEO of a Multinational Company quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange” in 1973, “by 1980, the picture had changed. The country had four or five Nigerians who were CEOs of multinational companies quoted on the Stock Exchange. By 1990, the country probably reached the highest number and quality in terms of progress made”.

Omolayole then noted, much like the writers of IT &Telecom Digest’s current cover story now do about the their sector: “However, between 1990 and 2000, some large multinationals somehow did not seem to find it easy to sustain an indigenous management succession or decided outright to turn back the hand of the clock. Some of these companies are Guinness Nigeria Plc, Unilever Nigeria Plc, and Nestle Nigeria Plc. We are now more than half way into the first decade of the 21st Century and the picture is more gloomy. Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc, WAPCO and PZ Industries have joined the groups that are now managed at the very top by expatriates”.

He followed his observations with a number of posers: “What has gone wrong and still going wrong? What exactly is happening? Have the majority owners of multinationals lost confidence in Nigerians? A situation where the two biggest Confectionery Companies, two biggest Breweries and two largest detergent companies are being managed by expatriates is worrisome. Are all Nigerian top managers non-performing or adjudged by expatriates to be bitten by the bug of lack of integrity?” There were more: “What future projections can we make? Has it occurred to multinational owners of large manufacturing outfits, that 99 per cent of the consumers of their products are Nigerians? Is economic nationalism dead, killed by globalisation? Is there now an artificial glass ceiling in the Corporate Boardroom for nationals? That is, a level beyond, which nationals cannot rise. What answers could we possibly give to such questions from our children and grandchildren with regards to this phenomenon?”

More questions than answers, no doubt, but let’s at least attempt answers to our earlier posers on the telecoms industry and see if it illuminates our path through this valley of decision. Is a glorious chapter of Nigerian history being written without Nigerians? It is easy to respond to this in the affirmative, because for the moment, from ownership to management, the industry is dominated by foreigners.

Interestingly, even most Nigerian-owned companies in the sector are executive-managed by foreigners. But to answer the second question, we must contend with the question: why do the investors prefer to install expatriates in their executive suites? This is a particularly important question because even the IT& Telecoms Digest article contained this unflattering piece of information: “Many telecom companies started the communications journey but few have survived the telecom boom period. In the same market where some companies have been reaping their gains in bounties, others have faltered mid-way into the race. They have either gone extinct or are barely clutching on to floating straws on the water surface for survival. These companies have a common denominator – they were once run by Nigerians!”
Could it therefore be that a fear of losing their investments or of failing to maximise their returns is the reason Nigerians are not being considered as CEOs? Is such fear founded on empirical evidence? If it is, is it the result of paucity of technical expertise, or competence, or experience or integrity, or a combination of some or all of these? Or are there other factors? (CONTINUES)

TELECOMS: A NIGERIAN STORY WITHOUT NIGERIANS?

Now - back to the issue at hand. In the words of the IT & Telecoms Digest report, “ironically, in spite of this monumental leap forward that the country has achieved in so short a time, it remains a puzzle why there are no Nigerians occupying the chief executive officer position in any of the telecoms companies in the country…In all, the percentage of CEOs of Nigerian extraction is less than 30 percent of the country’s industry total.” Is a glorious chapter of Nigerian history being written without Nigerians? If so, should we be worried?

One of the most important items on my monthly reading fare is IT & Telecoms Digest; an all-gloss monthly magazine published by Ikeja, Lagos-based, Belmang Limited. It is a world-class publication that covers the information technology and telecommunications sector globally from an unabashedly Nigerian perspective. Proactive on issues affecting the sector and reasonably relaxed in its presentation, it manages to educate and inform me about Nigeria’s most deservedly celebrated success story. Now and again, it also sets me thinking about the Nigerian condition, our vast potentials and possibilities and our tendency to self-immolation. Its current cover choice did just that.

Headlined, “Black Versus White; Indigenous Versus Foreign, Picking CEOs for Nigerian Telecom Operations”, it highlighted the current situation in that vibrant sector as it applies to headship of the major operators. Obviously triggered by the departure of the only Nigerian CEO among the top-six companies, Mr Bayo Ligali, until September 18, CEO of Zain Nigeria, the report should at least restart a debate on an issue we had raised in a piece, “Omolayole and Integrity In Corporate Governance” (March 26, 2008).

But first a few facts and figures as gleaned from the magazine. With about 70 million telephone users, Nigeria is the undisputed leader in subscriber numbers on the continent of Africa. This is a phenomenal rise from the paltry under-500,000 lines in use before the communication revolution of 2001, which began with the introduction of the global system of mobile telecommunication (GSM) that year. The growth is such that it has changed the face and turned the fortunes of the global industry. Admitting that much recently was no less a person than the incumbent Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union, Dr Hamadoun Toure. On a visit to Abuja, Nigeria last month, Toure, a Malian and first African to hold that office, proudly declared: “For the past five years and the first time in 144 years, Africa was recognised as one of the best carriers of the ICT sector. Nigeria is currently the continent’s largest market. This did not just happen by chance. It required good leadership by government, good regulation that is independent and committed”.

Toure’s reference to good leadership and good regulation is incidentally one of the most important single achievements of democratic governance yet. Beginning with the issuance of licenses through an auction that was universally acknowledged as one of the most transparent ever, the National Communications Communication, NCC has continued to attract commendation internationally. This might explain why current Nigerian Information and Communications Minister, Professor Dora Akunyili, in spite of the widely known frosty relationship between her and Engr Ernest Ndukwe, Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, had to join the praise choir.

Receiving Toure in her office in Abuja, she was reported as saying: “I don’t want to miss congratulating the EVC of the NCC for the good job NCC has done in this country since 2001 – during the GSM auction which is still being celebrated in this country and the way they have ensured that growth is steady…” Interestingly, she had a cultural and statistical explanation for the unprecedented growth of telephony numbers in the country. After explaining that her motivation for wanting to “continue to work to ensure that we improve services,” was “so that we have service that Nigerians can smile and be happy about”, she noted that “the average Nigerian is ready to skip lunch to buy airtime (because) we spend a lot of time on telephone. In fact some people culturally pick up the telephone and praise God first, which is wonderful, and then ask after your family before discussing the issue. That is why 10 subscribers in the US or Britain equals one subscriber in Nigeria.”

The success story in this sector, however, goes beyond the number of telephone users or any ministerial mathematics. Nigerian operators have begun to think beyond that. Globacom, a wholly owned Nigerian company is leading penetration into other countries in the West African sub-region with presence in Benin Republic, roll-out imminent in Ghana and, Cote d’Ivoire a near possibility. The same company recently landed Glo-1, its submarine cable system in Nigeria, a world first by a single company; existing such systems being consortia affairs. Another submarine project Main One by another full-blooded Nigerian company, Main One Technologies is on the way. These are massive heavy data capable systems that will connect Nigeria to virtually every part of the world. Within the country itself thousands of fibre optic cable lines are being laid including MTN Nigeria’s 3,400 kilometre Y’ello Bahn launched much earlier.

Nor is Nigeria’s newfound ICT leadership in Africa only region-deep. At international ICT forums, the country provides leadership. In a preview of the ITU WORLD 2009 in the magazine, Dennis Onwuegbu recalled how the Nigerian pavilion at the ITU Africa congress in Cairo, Egypt last year drew one of the highest numbers of visitors. He wrote in part: “the green and white colours of Nigeria which was conspicuously hoisted inside the expansive Cairo International Conference Centre became a major attraction throughout the four-day event. And the presence of Nigerian government officials, operators including the country’s two leading computer manufacturers – Zinox and Omatek; industry regulator, NCC; a financial institution, Access Bank; and an overwhelming number of ICT journalists were all that the country needed to make the difference at the event.”

Now - back to the issue at hand. In the words of the IT & Telecoms Digest report, “ironically, in spite of this monumental leap forward that the country has achieved in so short a time, it remains a puzzle why there are no Nigerians occupying the chief executive officer position in any of the telecoms companies in the country…In all, the percentage of CEOs of Nigerian extraction is less than 30 percent of the country’s industry total.” Is a glorious chapter of Nigerian history being written without Nigerians? If so, should we be worried? (CONTINUES)

AKINGBOLA, IBRU AND COLLEAGUES (3)

But just like the Bible said, the prosperity of the fool kills him. One day the gravy train left the station. Its content exposed for what it was, air, which had added zero value. Soon an ill wind blue from distant lands and shook the armada that had taken the place of the lone gravy ship off their moorings. One by one they set sail too headed for safer harbours or at worst to the safety of home. Citizens in their thousands were left holding on to air. Banks too had strong rooms loaded with hot air. Petroleum marketers didn’t fair any better. The result is what you call non-performing loans; but the antecedents are poor corporate governance triggered by sudden wealth and crowned by greed. A nation is not great by virtue of her wealth, a nation is great by the wealth of her virtue.

A British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) World Service reporter in Lagos rubbed it in really hard in her report of the arraignment of four former bank chief executives and some directors for sundry criminal offences in Lagos last week. The reporter, Caroline Duffield, I think it was, told the news anchor, and therefore the entire listening world, that the fifth chief executive who had yet to be docked because he was said to be on the run, was a pastor with Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG). Of course, you know who she was referring to. It’s none other than Dr Erastus Akingbola, until the Central Bank of Nigeria’s sack was Group Chief Executive of Intercontinental Bank Plc, who as at midweek, was still reportedly abroad and being hunted by the International Police (Interpol), at the instance of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

What the reporter didn’t say was that virtually all those who were arraigned before the court, that fateful Monday afternoon, were Christians, some like Oceanic Bank’s Chief Mrs Cecilia Ibru very publicly so; others at least by name. In fact of the lot only two, Isyaku Umar and Sanni Adams, both non-executive directors of Intercontinental bear names that signify they could be Moslems. Arraigned along with these three were: Mr. Okey Nwosu, FinBank Nigeria Plc; Mr. Sebastian Adigwe, Afribank Nigeria Plc; and Mr. Bartholomew Ebong, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, all former CEOs. Henry Onyemem and Niyi Opeodu, who were in charge of two Union Bank subsidiaries, were also charged. Others were Intercontinental Bank Chairman, Chief Raymond Obieri, and some of his board colleagues, Hyacinth Enuha, Christopher Adebayo Alabi, Samuel Adegbite, and Bayo Dada all said to be in the senior citizen age bracket of 65 years.

Ponder this for a minute, dearest reader. Of the twelve persons currently accused of financial crimes, nine or more Christians, of whatever hue. This is a statistical embarrassment, don’t you think! Readers of this column would remember that we drew attention to a similar situation among political actors of the Obasanjo Years who were charged with grave offences by the then Nuhu Ribadu-led EFCC.

For the avoidance of any doubts, I am mindful of the truth that these brethren are innocent until proven guilty by the courts. It is indeed one’s hope and prayer that they be found not culpable of any of the offences. But, man, this truly rankles! At the onset of the crisis, the possibility that any kind of criminal conduct could be pinned on these top bankers, particularly two of the CEOs whose Pentecostal antecedents I was familiar with, was, in my incredulity, next to nil. This explains why I said on this page two weeks ago and repeated myself last week that “…of the questions that have arisen …I consider the most important as how did these banks get into the mess that the facts and figures suggest they are in?” I went on to posit that central to the answer would be risk management issues which we conceded might have “their roots in a variety of soils” including “inadequate expertise at risk evaluation, lack of depth in their management cadre; support for government policies or, greed for gain leading to the rush to the gravy trains that the capital market and oil and gas were up to 2007”

I also raised such questions as “whether sacking of the executive boards of the banks was the only effective solution (whether) appropriate care (was) taken in determining the extent of bad loans… (whether) an organ of government like CBN (could) have helped with recovery of policy-support loans where government is the ultimate debtor and most germane of all, in relation to this column … the implication of these developments for the place of faith in decision making as corporate helmsmen – for those who profess their faith.

Although in my wonderment at the untoward twist of things I failed to attempt to offer my viewpoint on these issues last week, for which I sincerely apologise, it really doesn’t take a genius to chart our path to this sorry pass. It is indeed a classic case of public and corporate governance driven by the basest of human instincts. Let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time, there was a country with about 100 so-called universal banks in various shapes and sizes. In size they were all relatively small and in no position to do big ticket deals, even as consortia. This relative size was mainly the result of historical currency devaluation. In terms of shape, some had grown as far as they could. Some were prudentially unsound. For an economy transiting from near-total governmental control to a private sector-led one, the banking system had to be overhauled. Entered Mr Fix It! With an eye admirably fixed on history and his place in it, he set out to restructure the banks with a great deal of emphasis on size, and scant attention to shape. In other words, while recapitalisation and consolidation shored up bank sizes, they did not shape up in the area of corporate governance, including, risk management. Many giants emerged but they stood on feet of clay.

In the meantime one gravy train pulled into the business capital of the country. This train's gravy was labelled stocks and shares, but in actual fact its content was inflated balloons. The people went for it, driven into a frenzy created by the banks. Money was made in tonnes and it was made by many. But of course you can’t have too much of a good thing, otherwise known as greed became the credo. In the midst of that a gravy ship landed at the coast. It was oil-laden, petrol, that is. Petronaira smells sweet, ask anyone. Like ants drawn to sugar, everyone, banks, merchants and sundry jobbers went for a piece of the action. The more I get, the more I want was the singsong.

But just like the Bible said, the prosperity of the fool kills him. One day the gravy train left the station. Its content exposed for what it was, air, which had added zero value. Soon an ill wind blue from distant lands and shook the armada that had taken the place of the lone gravy ship off their moorings. One by one they set sail too headed for safer harbours or at worst to the safety of home. Citizens in their thousands were left holding on to air. Banks too had strong rooms loaded with hot air. Petroleum marketers didn’t fair any better. The result is what you call non-performing loans; but the antecedents are poor corporate governance triggered by sudden wealth and crowned by greed. A nation is not great by virtue of her wealth, a nation is great by the wealth of her virtue.

My brothers and sisters, let’s reason together. When Soludo asked the banks to recapitalise astronomically, how much real money came into the economy? When you bought shares and made a kill from the market, did the fact that no real value was added to the economy cross your mind? Whether as policy makers or implementers, players on the money or capital market or bank managers, senior executives or CEOs, how many of our decisions were not about that unholy trinity – me, myself and I? And that includes the Christians among us with access to the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth, of purity, of holiness, and above all of love. Let’s think on these things.

Bank CEOs and directors may have fallen from grace. If they have done anything wrong, some might even go to jail. But do not rejoice at their downfall. Believe me, their case is better; those of them who got it wrong can no longer live in delusion; so they have a chance to repent and make peace with their God. But what about the rest of us? Are we going to learn the appropriate lessons and start living out our faith in every area of our lives, private or public? Are we going to let the Spirit of God be in the driving seat of our lives? Are we going to take on the divine nature, the Zoe life that Jesus purchased for us with his precious blood, such that we would not just be above reproach, we would also be powerful.

You see, I do not believe that the sync between Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Lamido Sanusi’s recent decisions and the Vanguard newspaper report of March 23, 2009 is an accident. But imagine how the malfeasances being unearthed at the banks, if true, have made his job easy.

In closing, did you notice his choice of CEO for Intercontinental Bank, which has been a strong outlet for Christian literature? Will it surprise you if the devotional, The Word for Today soon becomes unavailable there? Is the debate about Islamic Banking which Sanusi recently kicked off and touted as “a credible alternative to the existing order” just an academic exercise? In the fullness of time that which is hidden shall be revealed and in any case only the counsel of God shall stand. (CONCLUDED)
PIXES: CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA GOVERNOR, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (Left) and his predecesor, Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo

AKINGBOLA, IBRU AND COLLEAGUES (2)

Inevitably all these have led one to begin to wonder what all of these are about. Are we faced with an altruistic but overzealous attempt at righting wrongs in a very important sector of our national life? Or is this a mixed bag of personal vendetta, score-settling, pursuit of certain group agenda all wrapped in national service? There has been no shortage of tales in support of the latter; ranging from Soludo-era accusation of de-marketing campaign against Sanusi by one of the sacked CEOs, to alleged attempt by some of the CEOs to block Sanusi’s appointment – all unconfirmed and unproven. But into the fray comes a certain report, the front page lead story of the March 23, 2009 edition of Vanguard newspapers. Its uncanny semblance to what is currently playing out is, to say the least, interesting.

He was a mathematician and logician; a photographer and an Anglican deacon, but he made his name as an author in a most unlikely genre of literature. An intellectual by all account, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s claim to fame came through his exertions in a field that became known as Literary Nonsense authoring three books and some poetry. Curiously, I had Lewis Carroll, as he is more popularly known, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, on my mind, all week. And it’s all thanks to that famous line in chapter two of this classic: “‘Curiouser and curiouser!’ cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English).”

Events in the unfolding melodrama in Nigeria’s banking sector have left me in wonderment and caught me joining Alice in her resort to that “bad English” exclamation – curiouser and curiouser! You’ll probably understand why as I try to goose-step through this piece.

Let’s begin this way. Last week, I emphasised that the five bank CEOs and in particular the two reflected in the headline had not been accused of anything illegal; that all the issues were basically those of risk management, most of which are matters of judgement rather than law. That was why I closed with a number of questions that I believed were central to the situation at hand.

For ease of reference, the appropriate paragraph read partly: “Now, of the questions that have arisen…I consider the most important as how these banks got into the mess that the facts and figures suggest they are in? As I said earlier the risk management issues that have come to the fore would have their roots in a variety of soils. These might include inadequate expertise at risk evaluation, lack of depth in their management cadre; support for government policies or, greed for gain leading to the rush to the gravy trains that the capital market and oil and gas were up to 2007. Of course there are questions also of whether sacking of the executive boards of the banks was the only effective solution? Was appropriate care taken in determining the extent of bad loans? Could an organ of government like CBN have helped with recovery of policy-support loans where government is the ultimate debtor? Most germane of all, in relation to this column is the implication of these developments for the place of faith in decision making as corporate helmsmen – for those who profess their faith.”

Now consider how things have unfolded since then. Erstwhile Group Chief Executive of Intercontinental Bank, Dr Erastus Akingbola and Chief Mrs Cecilia Ibru of Oceanic Bank were declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC “in connection with fraudulent abuse of credit process, insider trading, capital market manipulation and money laundering running into billions of Naira.” As I write this, Akingbola’s whereabouts was still a subject of speculations, while Ibru turned herself in on Wednesday. Although they had not been arraigned as I turn in this piece, media reports had it that charges had been framed against them. Apart from those for which the two were declared wanted, others being bandied about in the media are securing foreign loans without consulting the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and; indirect granting of loan to themselves through fronts.

Pause a bit, dear reader and contemplate this dramatic twist to the tale. Two of Nigeria’s most celebrated top flight bankers declared wanted like criminals! Akingbola, a minister of the gospel who runs God So Amazing Foundation through which millions of copies of a quarterly devotional, The Word for Today is distributed in Nigeria , Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Kenya and South Africa free, a fugitive, accused of crime as at the time of writing? Ibru, the stately wife of one of Nigeria’s foremost pioneer entrepreneurs, Michael Ibru, top member of one of Nigeria’s biggest Pentecostal churches, whose bank’s board of directors is chaired by the highly respected former capital market icon, Apostle Hayford Alile, being accused of money laundering and capital market manipulation? Curiouser and curiouser!

The EFCC also moved against the alleged major debtors of the five banks, issuing a seven-day ultimatum to persons and companies named in a list earlier published by the CBN, a list which generated lost of controversies on account of its inaccuracy and non-currency. Imagine that. CBN didn’t get its numbers right! Why the haste that led to blunders for which they had to issue explanation and apologies? Was it impossible for the fastidious Lamido Sanusi to have gotten the numbers updated, rather than publish May figures in August? And there was EFCC Chairman, Farida Waziri sounding every bit like her predecessor, the controversial Nuhu Ribadu. Where did all the niceties of due process to? Curiouser and curiouser!

Of course the originator of all of these, Lamido Sanusi wasn’t just acting, he was also speaking. He was either being quoted as saying that he would soon open the window for potential buyers of the five banks to express their interest, or that he would encourage the banks to merge with stronger ones. And he’s not kidding, is he? You put in N100 billion in a company built on the industry and sweat of individuals and groups and with assets worth twice or more that amount in Naira and promptly assume the role of lord and master? And that as if existing shareholders have all shipped out to Mars? Curiouser and curiouser!

Inevitably all these have led one to begin to wonder what all of these are about. Are we faced with an altruistic but overzealous attempt at righting wrongs in a very important sector of our national life? Or is this a mixed bag of personal vendetta, score-settling, pursuit of certain group agenda all wrapped in national service? There has been no shortage of tales in support of the latter; ranging from Soludo-era accusation of de-marketing campaign against Sanusi by one of the sacked CEOs, to alleged attempt by some of the CEOs to block Sanusi’s appointment – all unconfirmed and unproven. But into the fray comes a certain report, the front page lead story of the March 23, 2009 edition of Vanguard newspapers. Its uncanny semblance to what is currently playing out is, to say the least, interesting.

Headlined, “Group plots take over of five banks”, and signed by Omoh Gabriel and Emeka Mamah, it reads in part: “ANTI-CONSOLIDATION forces have regrouped with the hope of dismantling the structures and forcing a takeover of the top five banks in the country, Vanguard can now reveal. The grand plan by the group is to cause panic and uncertainty in the industry and make the target banks look unsafe for depositors… Vanguard investigations revealed that the aim of the anti-consolidation forces is to cause loss of public confidence in the banking industry and compel the Federal Government to move in by injecting funds. Further, they ultimately plan to instigate government to take equity holdings in the targeted banks.

“Vanguard gathered that the group at work is made up of former bank owners who lost out during the consolidation exercise, a powerful clique in the present government, and some aggrieved persons in three of the six geopolitical zones in the country who felt left out in the consolidation exercise. Presidency sources disclosed that those who felt left out in the consolidation exercise are up in arms to recoup what they felt they lost during Obasanjo years. Part of the plans hatched by the group is to ensure that the incumbent Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, does not get a second term. The plan is also to ensure that whatever gains consolidation recorded are discredited. This, it was learnt, was meant to force the President to act quickly in the matter of appointment of a successor to Soludo as they anticipate that the president's slow move may scuttle their dreams and cause the renewal of Soludo's re-appointment for a second term…

“A CBN official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that it is unfortunate that top five banks are the target. The banks, he said, are sound. The CBN had mistaken in the past the ongoing move as de-marketing by competitors in the banking industry, saying it is unhealthy competition. “The group is using this means to make depositors panic and undertake massive withdrawal of funds from the targeted banks in an attempt to cause liquidity problem in the bank. In that state they hope to cause a take over by the government which may buy a stake in the bank and later sell to members of the privileged group who may be appointed in the interim into the board of the banks…” Curiouser and curiouser, don’t you think? Lord, have mercy!

PIXES: CBN Governor Lamido Sanusi with EFCC chairman Farida Waziri (Mrs) exchange pleasantries at EFCC Lagos Office premises;
Chief Mrs Cecilia Ibru, Oceanic Bank's sacked CEO (centre) flanked by health personnel and lawyers arrives EFCC premises to give self up. Extreme Left is Mr Ajibola Oluyede of TRLP Law; Far left is Mr Niyi Akintola, SAN both attorneys to Mrs Ibru.

AKINGBOLA, IBRU AND COLLEAGUES

“Penultimate Friday, both banking icons were among chief executive officers and executive directors of five banks made to step down from office, on the orders of the Central Bank of Nigeria. My heart truly goes out to them, and I have joined many others in praying for them. As I perused the facts and figures that have been placed in the public domain, reactions from several quarters and the usual interplay of factors and interests in policy formulation and execution, a number of questions beg for answers. But I’ll come back to this later. It suffices to emphasise that these CEOs and their executive boards have, as I write this, not been accused of any criminal activities. The issues are those of risk management, which is basically one of judgement and its resultant effect on the strength of their operations; they are issues of corporate governance.”

Last year, the men’s ministry that I have the privilege of coordinating planned what we called a Mighty Man of Valour Dinner. It was intended to be the climax of a relatively active year in our outreach programme. We wanted someone to speak on the topic, “Navigating the Babylonian System with Kingdom Tools” which was what, in retrospect, had turned out to be our focus for that year. We wanted a man who was incontrovertibly Christian in the way he operated the business he is in. We found that man in Dr Erastus Akingbola, Group Managing Director, Intercontinental Bank Plc. We therefore prefixed the theme, “Banking on God.” Unfortunately, the event did not hold for various reasons, including unavailability of the guest speaker.

In a different capacity, we tried to reach out to Chief Mrs Cecilia Ibru, Managing Director/Chief Executive, Oceanic Bank Plc to speak at a Luncheon on “The Place of Christian Ethics in Corporate Governance”. Again, the event did not fly – for several reasons – also, not excluding the proposed speaker’s minders’ inability to even respond to our letter.

I have recalled these to demonstrate the very high esteem in which this writer holds these two bankers who exemplify, in their public activities, a commitment to the faith they profess. For me, they are people who made their name, fame and resources available for the propagation of the gospel and therefore role models who should have things to impart to others. Although, one was disappointed that their inability to accept those invitations contributed to the indefinite postponement of both events, the high esteem in which I held them did not and has not diminished.

Penultimate Friday, both banking icons were among chief executive officers and executive directors of five banks made to step down from office, on the orders of the Central Bank of Nigeria. My heart truly goes out to them, and I have joined many others in praying for them. As I perused the facts and figures that have been placed in the public domain, reactions from several quarters and the usual interplay of factors and interests in policy formulation and execution, a number of questions beg for answers. But I’ll come back to this later.

It is important to emphasise that these CEOs and their executive boards have, as I write this, not been accused of any criminal activities. The issues are those of risk management, which is basically one of judgement and its resultant effect on the strength of their operations; they are issues of corporate governance.

This should bring to memory the controversy that followed a report by a Paris, France-based journal, The Africa Report, published a few months ago. In that cover story headlined, “Nigerian Banks, Signs of Life” authored by Nicholas Norbrook and LeoNard Lawal, only four of Nigeria’s 24 banks were adjudged to be as “Strong” and “Thriving”. None of the five banks whose top management went under Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi’s hammer made that list. Nine others were rated as “Satisfactory”. These are banks the journal said were likely to “survive” in spite of “some margin lending issues”. Of the five only Afribank made this segment. The other four were named among those having “serious governance issues (that) need urgent attention” and grouped alongside three others as “Shaken.” A fourth group was labelled “Stressed” and described as “on the ropes, will either sink or be swallowed”

Interestingly, the magazine was vilified by some organs of government, the banks and a section of the media. It was even accused of doing a hatchet job for some foreign investors looking to invest in the Nigerian financial sector, on the cheap. Yet, a reading of the very brief report would have shown that no matter the motives, the facts were empirical and not in anyway different from those that have been published and commented upon by some of the more perceptive ones among Nigerian financial journalists. For instance, the report spoke about the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s loss of “over 65% of its value since March 2008” and how “an estimated N8trn ($54bn) has been wiped off bank stocks, which represent two-thirds of total market capitalisation.” It also reported that “the CBN believes that the sector could face up to N1trn of bad loans and has talked of setting up an asset management company onto which banks can offload their toxic assets.” It quoted a financial analyst, Latyr Diop of Afrinvest West Africa as saying that “Most of the banks have over-leveraged their balance sheets during the boom cycle and are stuck with trillions of naira worth of bad debts…” In situating the crisis, the report said: “…Lending was particularly strong to government and the oil and telecom sectors. Though telecoms seem to be holding up, the other two pose greater problems. The fall in the price of oil has put several energy related companies out of business, with repercussions for those banking them”. None of these ranks as revelations, save that key stakeholders were either living in denial, or were wary of rocking the financial system boat.

So vociferous were the attacks on the magazine that it had to respond. In a statement standing by their story, the management headed by a veteran, highly connected reporter on Africa and African issues, Patrick Smith wrote in part: “Our ranking of the banks was based on qualitative not quantitative factors. Nigerian banks are used to being graded on numerical performance indicators, a grading process that is in itself open to manipulation…Qur report was about transparency, corporate governance, accounting practice, lack of disclosure and up-to-date financial reporting, Banks & Other Financial Institutions Act infractions, auditor commentary and accessibility.”

What the journal said in May 2009, for which they were called names, was exactly what CBN’s Sanusi repeated both in his address to the media two Fridays ago and in his exclusive interview with ThisDay thereafter. Among other things, he was quoted as saying that he ordered a special examination of the five banks because he was alarmed: “at the quantum of exposure which some of the banks had…An exposure to a capital market that has lost over 70 percent of its value was a long term problem unless people believe that the capital market will pick up in the next few months and I do not think that stocks are going to go back to that very high level within a short time.”

From these, it is clear that what the CBN had to deal with was not crime, at least, not yet. What we have here is a case of poor judgement, which might have its roots in any number of other soils. As Sanusi told ThisDay Board of Editors: “…In every capitalist environment, if management loses a lot of money, it will go. It is not a crime. The MDs of all the banks behind the mortgage crisis in other parts of the world took the right action and resigned. They did not steal money. They did not commit a crime. But they ran an institution in a manner that cost it its franchise, or cost its shareholders money or placed their depositors at risk. They put their firms at risk and they took responsibility for it. So, it is in this light that the action that we have taken should be seen. “

Now, of the questions that have arisen from the on-going situation, I consider the most important as how did these banks get into the mess that the facts and figures suggest they are in? As I said earlier the risk management issues that have come to the fore would have their roots in a variety of soils. These might include inadequate expertise at risk evaluation, lack of depth in their management cadre; support for government policies or, greed for gain leading to the rush to the gravy trains that the capital market and oil and gas were up to 2007. Of course there are questions also of whether sacking of the executive boards of the banks was the only effective solution? Was appropriate care taken in determining the extent of bad loans? Could an organ of government like CBN have helped with recovery of policy-support loans where government is the ultimate debtor? Most germane of all, in relation to this column is the implication of these developments for the place of faith in decision making as corporate helmsmen – for those who profess their faith.
We’ll examine these questions in the concluding part next week. By the way, has anyone sent The Africa Report an apology, yet?

PIXES: EMBATTLED BANK CHIEFS...
Dr Erastus Akingbola, Intercontinental Bank PLC &
Dr Mrs Cecilia Ibru, Oceanic Bank PLC

OMOLAYOLE AND INTEGRITY IN CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Dr Mike Omolayole, remember him? Remember him of the dapper suit and stylishly parted haircut; him of the hilarious but message-laden after dinner speeches; him who did great exploits as the helmsman at the behemoth, Lever Brothers Plc? How can anyone forget, you might counter, until you realise that this management guru and boardroom icon, actually retired from Lever Brothers a whopping 24 years ago!

But this is not a piece about the man. This is about something he said recently that got me thinking and returning to an issue we had partly raised in this column before.
This is a piece about Dr Omolayole’s take on integrity in the corporate world and its possible effect on what I would like to call the creeping recolonisation of the Nigerian economy. In a piece titled “Corporate Management: More Questions than Answers,” this veteran of the board room and corporate management trailblazer reviewed the corporate landscape and wondered what had gone wrong.
Backgrounding his concerns, Dr Omolayole recalled how during “the last quarter of the 19th Century to the early 70s of the 20th Century” conglomerates and multinationals in Nigeria “were managed by expatriate personnel especially at the top” and how “the Indigenisation Act in Nigeria in the 70s helped in no small measure to change the status quo.”
So helpful was the Act, he said, that “where there was only one Nigerian CEO of a Multinational Company quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange” in 1973, “by 1980, the picture had changed. The country had four or five Nigerians who were CEOs of multinational companies quoted on the Stock Exchange. By 1990, the country probably reached the highest number and quality in terms of progress made”.
Continuing, Dr Omolayole wrote: “However, between 1990 and 2000, some large multinationals somehow did not seem to find it easy to sustain an indigenous management succession or decided outright to turn back the hand of the clock. Some of these companies are Guinness Nigeria Plc, Unilever Nigeria Plc, and Nestle Nigeria Plc. We are now more than half way into the first decade of the 21st Century and the picture is more gloomy. Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc, WAPCO and PZ Industries have joined the groups that are now managed at the very top by expatriates”.
He then posed the questions: “What has gone wrong and still going wrong? What exactly is happening? Have the majority owners of multinationals lost confidence in Nigerians? A situation where the two biggest Confectionery Companies, two biggest Breweries and two largest detergent companies are being managed by expatriates is worrisome. Are all Nigerian top managers non-performing or adjudged by expatriates to be bitten by the bug of lack of integrity?” (Emphasis mine)
Although he went on to raise issues like whether “this phenomenon is going on unnoticed or is being swept under the carpet” and how “this trend calls for a public debate by all stakeholders including the Federal Government “etc, it is the latter part of his questions above that caught my attention.
No, I do not dismiss as unimportant the other issues that he raised. How can one say it is unimportant to reflect on and find answers to such posers like:”What future projections can we make? Has it occurred to multinational owners of large manufacturing outfits, that 99 per cent of the consumers of their products are Nigerians? Is economic nationalism dead, killed by globalisation? Is there now an artificial glass ceiling in the Corporate Boardroom for nationals? That is, a level beyond, which nationals cannot rise. What answers could we possibly give to such questions from our children and grandchildren with regards to this phenomenon?”
Neither can one fault his conclusion that: “The future of our great country still lies in its ability to harness the potential of its abundant human resources (Human Capital) at the very top levels, be it in Management or Public Service”.
But I wish to state unequivocally that the issue of integrity is critical. I know it because, I know that if there is a grave national drought in Nigeria; it is in the integrity department. And I am sure you and I know it. I know also that Dr Omolayole knows it, otherwise, he would not have raised it. In fact, so acutely aware of it is he that his contribution to Marketing Memoirs, one of the works of the prolific Nigerian journalists and authors, Mike Awoyinfa and Dimgba Igwe, centred on integrity. In chapter seven of that book, he was quoted as saying: “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything. We stand for integrity, we stand for transparency.” And the authors commented: “It is interesting and commendable to note that Omolayole and Associates insists on not offering or receiving bribe to induce patronage whether making profit or loss. Dr Omolayole is a role model to leaders in private and public sector in Nigeria”.

So, whilst we debate the glass ceilings and the consumer statistics, I wish to state that we need to take a closer look at the subject of integrity in the work place, at ALL levels. This is because, I believe in the injunction of the bible that says, “…if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged (1 Corinthians 11:31).

Readers of this column will recall my reports of the Christian Men’s Network Nigeria’s luncheon addressed by Elder Felix Ohiwerei last October. During the interactive session, a number of the speakers raised the issue of integrity in the marketing departments of major companies particularly as regards sponsorships and related matters. It was clear that where outright bribes were not being demanded, over-invoicing was rampant and the sponsorship seeker who refuses to cooperate does so to his peril.

I recently requested a few of my friends who operate in this area to react to an earlier piece, “Corporate Nigeria and the Secularity Bogey”. One of them wrote and I quote: ”It is true that values of jobs is are jacked up by sponsors. It is really sad. I even have a friend’s account of how he submitted a proposal with a certain amount, executed the job and was paid a much higher amount. The instruction he got was to CASH THE CHEQUE AND RETURN THE BALANCE. And that if he protested the entire sum will be tied down for God knows how long. In the course of running my own programme, I’ve found out that even NGOs collaborate with some company officials to defraud companies, because donations for charitable purposes are not taxed. So they write a N2million cheque and turn round to get, say N1million; give the NGO N1m and N2m is reflected on record. I tell you this is deep…”

The significant thing here is that the marketing departments have tended to produce the CEO of major companies. With antecedents like this, what is the integrity level that can be expected of such CEOs? When you recall Elder Ohiwerei’s account of his brush with the Customs as NB Plc’s CEO and how he had to airlift raw materials rather than pay a bribe, it should be clear that the issue transcends one department. For, had the director in charge been around, CEO Ohiwerei would never have known about it!

So, as we debate the recolonisation of Nigeria’s corporate world, and focus, as we have been doing lately, on corruption in political governance, let’s open up an equally urgent and important debate on integrity in corporate governance in our land.

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From My Inbox
RE: SHEPHERDS, THIEVES …

Lawyers have a saying that "nothing can on nothing stand" You cannot build a concrete mansion on a wooden foundation. Without being born again, no amount of "holy living" can take a man to heaven. If the Devil could carry out some humanitarian activities, will that make him acceptable? Is it in order to dine with the Devil, with or without a long spoon?

You hit the nail on the head with that biblical quotation about the shepherd and the sheepfold. Morally and spiritually, the end does not justify the means. "You cannot steal a goose and offer God the gosling" - C.H. Spurgeon. Amalekite oxen are unacceptable as burnt offering. Might is not right but right is right. This is the way forward for the country.

Akintunde Makinde,
Lagos