Street talk in Nigeria has it that Nigerian Banks operate
like legitimate businesses run by crooks or more like crooked businesses run by
dubious people. It appears Nigeria’s Central Bank has just found that one out. As
part of its regulatory functions and in a very clear reaction to it, the CBN
has barred nine erring commercial banks from all foreign exchange transactions
and operations. A very severe punishment and quite shocking indeed considering
the importance of Forex to the overall viability and profitability of most
Nigerian money deposit Banks.
Reports coming out of the apex Bank indicate that the nine banks
were barred for hiding some $2.12 billion belonging to the nation’s oil
corporation, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. That they all
deliberately neglected or failed to remit the funds into the Treasury Single
Account, TSA, a key policy trust of President Muhammadu Buhari’s
administration. The Banks are to remain shut out from foreign exchange
transactions until they fully remit the NNPC funds into government coffers via
the Treasury Single Account, the apex Bank insists.
