Although Ndibo’s marginalisation outcry is legitimate, the axe placed on BDCs operation in the country gives Hausa/Fulani more legitimate grounds to cry.
Sometime in 2014, a change of baton in the leadership of the Unity Bank Plc left me in pain. Learning that the newly appointed managing director of the Unity Bank, an offshoot of our Bank of the North, Henry Semenitari, was not from Zamfara, Benue or Borno State, but from Rivers State drew spasm of rage. My pain was not borne out of ethnocentrism but for ardour on the future of the North in the banking sector.
When boardroom crisis led to the resignation of Mr. Semenitari in August last year, I expected to hear names like Abdullahi, Bulus or Modibbo taking over from him. No, I was wrong. Ms. Tomi Somefun is currently the managing director of the bank.
Why this? After a merger, the Bank of the North lost its identity and melted into other banks. The Southerners now have the controlling stake in what became symbolic of the bank Sardauna built for the North. I’m piqued that the canopying shade of the great gamji tree sowed by the late premier of Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, is now covering the South than the North. What is now left to us is the trunk of the tree, standing idly on Zaria Road, Kano. Is this not shameful to our elites?
The central argument of this piece is, however, the issue of “marginalisation” by the Buhari administration. While I truly believe President Muhammadu Buhari has marginalised the South-East on the issue of appointments, I disagree with the people of the zone that the president has an axe to grind with the Igbo.
After losing the Bank of the North, one peripheral area of finance that is almost the exclusive preserve of Northerners, the Bureau de Change/forex dealings, is now going… Gone! The banking sector, insurance, the equity market, mortgage institutions, leasing companies, discount houses, etc. are all controlled by the South! We are now complete spectators in the area of finance.
The North is not crying foul, perhaps because we love our elites to occupy power at the centre more than we love Kano to be like Lagos, whose economy is bigger than some African countries. The Economist said of Lagos, “The GDP of Lagos alone exceeds that of Kenya, East Africa’s beefiest economy”.
The present administration’s sweeping policies would soon make forex vendors, Buhari’s kinsmen, appear like sugarcane vendors – that is in terms of profitability. Forgive my hyperbole, but “yan chanji” have been really hit by CHANGE.
Assuming the Igbos are the major players in the bureau de change business, one would have heard cries of vendetta, marginalisation, Northern agenda, etcetera from them. They will simply harvest this and add it to the basket of national stereotypes.
The North’s marginalisation is analogous to that of the South, and even more detrimental to the former. But why are the Northerners silent over this “marginalisation”? Trust us, we do not keep mum because of the propriety of the policy, but because it’s “our own” on the saddle. I recall we made a similar Igboist ranting in the days of President Obasanjo’s banking consolidation, and sobbed uncontrollably when President Jonathan began the BDCs recapitalisation after the “suspension” of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
I support Buhari on this because the decision is in the best interest of the nation. The Central Bank’s explanation is clear enough for patriotic citizens to support the decision.
“In particular,” the apex bank said on Monday, “we have noted with grave concern that Bureau de Change (BDC) operators have abandoned the original objective of their establishment, which was to serve retail end users who need US$5,000 or less.
“Instead, they have become wholesale dealers in foreign exchange to the tune of millions of dollars per transaction. Thereafter, they use fake documentations like passport numbers, BVNs, boarding passes, and flight tickets to render weekly returns to the CBN.
“Despite the fact that Nigeria is the only country in the world where the Central Bank sells dollars directly to BDCs, operators in this segment have not reciprocated the Bank’s gesture to help maintain stability in the market.
“Whereas the bank has continued to sell US Dollars at about N197 per dollar to these operators, they have in turn become greedy in their sales to ordinary Nigerians, with selling rates of as high as N250 per dollar.”
This says a lot about the good intention of the federal government despite the fact that President Buhari’s kinsmen are worst hit.
Although Ndibo’s marginalisation outcry is legitimate, the axe placed on BDCs operation in the country gives Hausa/Fulani more legitimate grounds to cry.
