24062019 - EDO Oyegun Oshiomhole ateach others troats

FINANCIAL VANGUARD
5 reasons Nigeria will remain
poverty capital until 2023
….with leadership and a sense of purpose, we can lift 100
million Nigerians out of poverty in ten years — President
Buhari, June 12, 2019 in Abuja
POSSIBLY, several of the card
carrying members of the All
Progressives Congress, APC,
present clapped lustily when the
President made that statement.
That is to be expected. Loyal
politicians at campaign rallies are
not expected to think critically
about what their leaders say. Their
role is to applaud anything
pronounced. Other observers still
in possession of their thinking caps
could easily determine that the
statement was totally empty for
several reasons. Five reasons will
be sufficient to illustrate the point.
First, Buhari said “with
leadership”, not “with my
leadership”. It might appear like
quibbling with semantics, but,
other leaders embarking their
nations on a new and prosperous
direction have always emphasised
their contributions to the
achievements envisaged.
Second, at close to 78, and only
four years to go, all being well,
Buhari is speculating on an
objective well beyond his tenure.
Even if he regards himself as the
leader with a sense of purpose, he
will not be around for sixty percent
of the ten years to pilot the ship of
the Nigerian State.
Third, it is safe to assume that
the ten years have not commenced
now in 2019. With the Gross
Domestic Product, GDP, in the first
quarter, Q1, of 2019, growing at a
miserable under 2 per cent and less
than Q4 of 2018, Nigeria has
added more people to those living
in poverty instead of lifting them
out of it. From all appearances,
2019 is certainly not the first year
of the ten.
Fourth, Nigeria, under APC
government, is again repeating all
the mistakes which make it
unlikely that we will ever achieve
the remarkable economic
transformations which enabled
China, India and Indonesia, the
three countries mentioned in the
June 12 address to escape mass
poverty.
The Nigerian president was
declared winner in February this
year. India’s prime minister was
re-elected more than two months
after that. The Indian prime
minister announced his cabinet 72
hours after the results of the
election. Nigeria still has no
ministers. The difference is clear
between a purposeful prime
minister, leader and his Nigerian
counterpart.
By the time you read this article,
June will almost be over. The first
half of 2019 will soon be gone.
Purposeful leaders recognise time
as an economic resource almost
at par with capital, labour and
infrastructure. They never waste
time or encourage their
subordinates to do the same.
Ministers appointed after June
will spend the rest of the year
coming to grips with their scope
of responsibilities. Nothing much
can be expected of them. Ministers
who attempt to “hit the ground
running” – to use the hackneyed
expression of journalists –
invariably lead their Ministries
into blind alleys. An example was
the former Minister of
Transportation, Mr Rotimi
Amaechi, who made grand
promises about the Lagos-Ibadan
and the Lagos-Calabar rail lines
in 2016. The first should have been
in operation now according to
him. Not only is there no rail
commuter service between Lagos
and Ibadan, international experts
are now telling us that the
Nigerian rail line costs have been
grossly padded. Time lost; money
lost.
The Nigerian president made no
FINANCIAL VANGUARD
personal commitment to achieve
the objective stated. It was more of
an academic exercise. By contrast,
when President John Kennedy of
America, after the Russians sent an
astronaut into space announced
that “by the end of the decade
America will send a man to the
moon and bring him back” he had
provided a timeline for the
objective. America was challenged
to reach the moon by December
1969. Even though Kennedy was
assassinated in 1963, the USA
achieved the goal ahead of time.
Two purposeful Presidents after
Kennedy - Johnson and Nixon -
made sure that happened. But,
Kennedy got the ball rolling by
establishing the framework for
success. He got the brightest and
best Americans to work on the
project. By contrast Buhari has not
No purposeful leader
would allow the
security situation to
deteriorate under him
and allow truckers to
openly defy his orders
and close the nation’s
ports for three years
established the Economic
Management Team which will
make it possible for Nigeria to lift
100 million out of poverty in ten
years. That explains the difference
between purposeful leadership
and wishful thinkers.
Fifth, if a purposeful leader can
be defined as one who does not
ignore clear threats to the
economy and security of his
nation, then Buhari has failed on,
at least, two instances. China, India
and Indonesia would not have
allowed trucks to block the road
Performance ,not recapitalization determines survival of
a bank – MD Imowo MfB
The Managing Director, Imowo Microfinance Bank, MfB, Ijebu Ode,
Ogun State, Mr. Ajayi Abiodun, in this interview, said that the survival
of a bank is largely determined by its financial performance which
requires good management and corporate governance, rather than
capital base. He also highlighted other issues affecting the sub sector
and its operations.
Excerpts
By Providence Emmanuel
DO you think the MfBs really
need recapitalization as
required by the CBN?
I can say categorically that it is
not recapitalisation that matter,
what matters is the performance of
each bank, aside that, they should
allow banks to grow organically, not
by forcing them to recapitalize.
Some banks are in the rural area,
they don’t need more than N20
million to perform. It is those banks
that their capital has been eroded
through bad debt that want the
Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN to
enforce recapitalisation. Some Unit
MfBs do not have N50 million
required by the CBN. Even the
capital they have, they are yet to
utilize it through lending to the
active poor in the rural area because
they do not give loans beyond N20,
000 or N30, 000. If they are forced
to recapitalize with N50 million and
they manage to, who will take it from
them? Some commercial banks that
recapitalized with N25 billion, they
have been distressed. Even if they
raise their money to N100 billion
instead of N25 billion, they will die
if the management and corporate
governance is not existing. It is not
recapitalization that matters; it is
the performance of each bank. They
should allow them to grow
organically. When I came to my
bank, our total share capital was
below N5 million, but today, the total
share capital is over N170 million.
When the CBN first came with
•Ajayi Abiodun
recapitalization of Unit MfBs, they
raised it to N200 million, assuming
we were unable to raise such and
they collapse our bank, it is going to
have a negative effect on the
populace. What matters is the
performance of each bank.
How is your bank impacting the
lives of people in Ogun state?
That is very good; the most
important aspect of how we have
been helping them is by giving them
micro loan. Some of the civil
servants have small businesses they
Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2019 — 29
to their major ports for three weeks
because their leaders are aware of
the undesirable consequences.
Nigeria allowed its major ports to
be blockaded for over three years
without government action. Even
today we are witnessing an
impotent government which
issued a 72 hour quit notice to the
criminal road blockers and three
weeks after, they are still there. It
would never happen in China.
Similarly, when herdsmen
terrorist first started to imperil the
security of the nation, the Federal
Government of Nigeria could not
foresee the danger to our food
security. First, the problem was
ignored. Herdsmen killed about
300 citizens in Agatu, Benue State,
the nation’s main food production
belt, and the President of Nigeria
did not even visit the place nor send
relief materials. Then, excuses
followed. In a shameless
demonstration of blaming the
victims, the government
announced that herdsmen were
provoked when Benue State
passed a no grazing law. Yet, the
pogrom at Agatu occurred over
one year before the law was
passed.
Then the herdsmen went to
Plateau State which had no law
prohibiting grazing. Soon a
government spokesman
announced to fellow Nigerians
that we have two options: our land
or our lives.
In all these, the short-sighted
leaders in Abuja acted as if they
actually expected to promote one
lawless group without instigating
reprisals. Cattle rustlers soon
emerged and they too were
ignored. Then bandits and
kidnappers increasingly took over
Zamfara and Katsina States. They
too were ignored because our
leaders had an election to face. All
those threats to lives and properties
could wait while they went after
the precious second term.
Second term has now been
do after work, so we give them soft
loan to boost their business. Some
need money to buy car, fridge, among
others. We buy for them and when
their salary comes, we take our
money from deductions. It could be
from a period of six months to one
year.
Aside from that, some get
developmental loan to raise their
personal building, we give them
money when they want to start
foundation, after that we give them
again to raise the building. We can’t
give them N15 million at a go, it is
called developmental loan; we give
them as they develop their building
gradually. Some take about six years
to complete but we can’t give them
loan for more than one year. After
paying for one year, then they can
apply for another one.
The salaries of civil servants in
Ogun state comes regularly, unlike
other states where they owe six
months, but in Ogun state, we don’t
have problem giving loan to civil
servants because we deduct from
their monthly salary. But for the
market women, we devise means of
monitoring and securing their
loans, we tell them to produce two
civil servants that can guarantee
secured. But, on June 12, while the
President of Nigeria was
announcing that Nigeria could lift
100 million people out of poverty
in ten years, bandits again invaded
his state and carried off a village
head. The terrorists now control
more of Zamfara and Katsina
States than the Federal
Government and the State
governments do.
On June 18, 2019, the Chief of
Army Staff, CoAS, General Tukur
Buratai, who a few days before had
boasted that Boko Haram was
finished, had to eat his words after
the insurgents attacked several
army bases killing unknown
numbers of soldiers. According to
the CoAS, “It is unfortunate, but
the truth is that almost every
setback the Nigerian army has had
in our operations in recent times
can be traced to insufficient
commitment to a common
national and military course by
those at the frontlines.” Buratai
was being economical with the
truth. He should simply have said
“Fellow Nigerians, please say your
last prayers.” He has just
announced that the Nigerian army
is ill-prepared to fight and win this
war.
Meanwhile, we must bear in
mind that we have a retired Major
General as President and he was
elected and re-elected because
Nigerians thought that he could
provide security for rapid
economic growth to occur. At the
start of his fifth year in office,
Nigeria is now more insecure than
in 2015. Even his state – Katsina
— is now under siege unlike 2015.
Obviously, no purposeful leader
would allow the security situation
to deteriorate under him and allow
truckers to openly defy his orders
and close the nation’s ports for
three years. We cannot be like
China, India and Indonesia
because we don’t have a leader like
theirs.
MICROFINANCE
them on their salary and that I can
tell you, is working very well, when
they allow civil servants to give them
cheque as collateral, the civil
servant would also monitor the
facility being granted, since they
secured it with their cheque. They
know the implication of issuing dud
cheque. We don’t take collateral
from federal because we don’t have
power over that. We always carry
out proper assessment of the
customer to ensure they have the
capacity to pay back the money.
Those who do not have capacity to
pay back, we don’t give them much
money and that is what we call active
poor.
Are you in support of the inhuman
methods use by some MfBs to
recover loan from defaulters?
Some banks are practicing it, it is
too bad, that is what they call “Gbo
omu le lantern” (breast on
lantern). I have heard it but I have
never seen it. There is nothing wrong
with using subtle pressure to recover
loan, (empty threat) but it is unfair
to lock up customers shop or apply
some inhuman treatment on a
customer without any court
judgment. The subtle pressure does
work some times if it is applied.