Central Bank governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, is a controversial figure in the banking industry and in the polity. Gbola Subair digs, in this report, into the many ramifications of the Kano prince's controversial fiscal policies, tantrums and triumphs.SINCE his appointment as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by the late President Umaru Yar'Adua in June 2009, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has been enmeshed in one controversy or the other.With the exception of Professor Chukwuma Soludo, Sanusi towers above other past CBN governors like Aliyu Mai-Borno, Clement Isong (1972-1975), Adamu Ciroma, Ola Vincent, Abdulkadir Ahmed, Paul Ogwuma and Joseph Sanusi.A few weeks after assuming duties, the risk management expert stirred the hornet's nest when he summoned all the 25 chief executives of banks then in operation to a meeting. At the marathon meeting, the apex bank governor laid bare his policies, where he drummed it into the ears of the bank bosses that he was determined to make the difference as far as banking regulations were concerned. His action after the result of the forensic auditing of the 25 banks which showed that at least eight of the 25 banks were terribly sick showed that he really meant business.Sanusi did what most people thought was harsh by sacking five managing directors, Sebastian Adigwe of Afribank, Cecilia Ibru of Oceanic Bank, Barth Ebong of Union Bank, and Okey Nwosu of Finbank. The sack of these executives, who were great power brokers in the banking industry, amply demonstrated that it was not going to business as usual under Sanusi . Sanusi simply blew the whistle by announcing the terribly poor state of the eight banks which had been sick under Professor Soludo.Where Soludo trembled in relation to taking positive action on the sick banks, Sanusi braved the consequences by telling the whole world that the banks were sick and also went ahead to put in place measures aimed at putting them on the path of growth by injecting about N620 billion, specially printed for that purpose. Apart from sending the corrupt bank chief executives packing, he ensured that they faced prosecution in the hands of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commissio (EFCC).In the course of putting the banks in proper shape, the CBN governor had to engage in a war of words with shareholders of the sick banks, who felt that if he ( Sanusi ) was allowed to sell the distressed banks, their shareholdings in these banks would go under the drain. With sound arguments and dexterity on the path of Sanusi, however, he had his way with the shareholders. To his credit, the hitherto distressed banks are doing well today.While Sanusi was receiving jabs from left, right and centre arising from the manner in which he took over the sick banks, he also found time to throw punches at the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly when he accused the lawmakers of cornering for themselves alone, a large chunk of the budget. The lawmakers not only defended themselves but also asked Sanusi to come forward and tell the House of Representatives his annual budgets.This formed the genesis of the revision of the CBN Act, as the lawmakers felt that Sanusi, who was attacking them of cornering a large chunk of the annual budget, was not operating any known budget, spending the tax payers' money according to his whims and caprices.Having flagged off the controversy, Sanusi is now said to be running from pillar to post to ensure that the apex bank's powers are not whittled down in the proposed CBN Amendment Act. The Kano prince demonstrated his ability to fight battles in many fronts at the same time when he came out with the equally controversial Islamic Banking policy.Though Sanusi said the Islamic banking model had been in the pipeline since the Soludo era, however, because of his controversial nature, many people failed to believe him.To them, Sanusi, who studied Sharia and Islamic Studies at the International University of Africa, Khartoum, Sudan, had come again to Islamise Nigeria.His antagonists, who said had the traits of being an Islamic fundamentalist, did not fail to take him to the cleaners on the new banking model .The barrage of criticisms failed to abate even when the apex bank management engaged in series of discussions with all stakeholders, telling them Islamic banking was purely a business affair.The way Sanusi handled the CBN's donations to victims of Boko Haram insurgency in the country also made the people to believe that he had a hidden agenda. The bomb blast in Maddala, Niger State, happened before that of Kano, the home state of Sanusi. But Sanusi went to Kano and donated huge sums of money which made many to believe that the CBN was swimming in money, which Sanusi was not spending judiciously.Though he made spirited efforts to explain the situation, the army of antagonists who had made up their mind not to ever believe him failed to see reason with him.Not done with controversies, Sanusi came out with his currency restructuring plan in which he proposed to change the existing N5, N10 and N20 notes to coins and also introduce a higher denomination of N5,000.Highlights of the restructuring exercise, as enunciated by the governor, include the introduction of N5,000 note, re-designation of the existing currencies and the conversion to coins of the N5, N10 and N20 notes.Some of the issues that have cropped up since the announcement are the timing of the exercise, the conversion of some existing notes to coins and the inflationary effects the exercise may have on the economy. Condemning the exercise, stakeholders were of the opinion that rather than introducing N5000 note and spending huge sums of money on re-designation of the existing ones, the apex bank should have used the alleged N40billion spent to improve infrastructure in the country.However, the apex bank, justifying the exercise, said that according to international best practices, monetary authorities were required to review their nation's currency at intervals of between five and eight years. He said this was done to address, among other factors, inevitable weaknesses and challenges identified in the circulating bank notes and coins.In the case of the Nigerian currency, the CBN governor said the various denominations had been circulating without any major review. For instance, he said the N100 note, restructured in 1999, had been in existence for 13 years, while the N200 restructured in 2000 has been in existence for 12 years. Ditto for the N500 note which was restructured in April 2001 and is in existence for 11 years, while the N1000 note which was restructured in October 2005 has been existing for seven years.The CBN governor, who said the last comprehensive review of the currency that saw the introduction of N20 , N5 N10 and N50 polymer was carried out in 2005 and 2009 respectively, stated that the current currency restructuring exercise threw up a lot of challenges which included public apathy towards the usage of 20k, N1 and N2 coins.In the light of these challenges, he said the apex bank conducted several stakeholders' meetings where it was agreed that the CBN should coin lower denominations of currency up to N100, encourage the usage of coins and the need for the apex bank to introduce higher denomination banknotes to discourage dollarisation and reduce the volume of bank notes and the overall cost of currency management.Apart from timing, other issues raised bordered on the conversion of N5, N10 and N20 notes to coins. Considering the aversion of many Nigerians to coins, the thinking is that the apex bank intended to make the N50 note the lowest denomination acceptable in the country when the coins would have been consigned to the dustbin of history and thus import inflation into the country.Like his many other policies, the currency restructuring proposals exposed Sanusi to many scathing remarks. He was so vilified that many people doubted his credential s in Economics. While the antagonists of his currency restructuring exercise thought the exercise is inflationary, Sanusi, who claimed to have a masters degree in Economics, felt otherwise , vowing to continue with his plan and saying that those who asserted that the exercise would induce inflation were poor economists.To demonstrate the fact that he feared nobody, the apex bank chief also had the temerity to abuse former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who had faulted his currency restructuring exercise, calling him also a poor economist.Sanusi, no doubt, is controversy-personified. However, if people really sit down to analyse some of his policies, one will see that in between his controversial behaviours and utterances lies the development of the banking industry, his primary assignment. Sanusi may be a man totally misunderstood; he himself gave credence to this assertion when he expressed fears over the possibility of being pilloried by people who did not comprehend his policies, when he leaves office. The CBN governor said the castigations could result from poor 'reading of economics' and other issues.Sanusi stated: 'We met banks in crisis, we fixed the banks and that is not reform. And I think there is a major problem in our reading of economics and our reading of issues. I remember when we removed bank CEOs and we tried them, people were describing the CBN governor as being bold. This is the country where it takes courage to put a thief in prison. In other parts of the world, it is normal: if you steal you go to jail. That is not reform.'He listed monetary policies as an approach to the supply of money, reading of economic indicators and the willingness to subject the issues to debate as the real changes that were happening in the apex financial institutions.Sanusi, whatever opinion many people might have of him, has demonstrated his pity for millions of depositors who would have lost billions of naira had he allowed the sick bank to continue to operate as they were doing without any intervention, until they crashed out of business.Is Sanusi a hero or a villain in the banking g industry' This is a question many people will not easily find an answer to because of the alleged erratic behaviour of the Dan Maje of Kano, whom many believes talks too much and is a bad listener.
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