The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has promised to investigate allegations of corruption and punitive termination of jobs at the Haggai Savings and Loans Limited in Lagos, Nigeria.
The Managing Director of the Haggai Savings and Loans, Pastor Richard Olubameru, allegedly sacked the company’s Internal Audit Manager, Mr. Dickson Anayo in 2009 for raising the red flag upon discovering crafty designs and other antics through which money was being frittered away.
Mallam Sanusi, who for the second time won the “Banker of the Year” award said that it is not true to conclude that some sharp practices within the banking sector still escape his scrutiny, saying that the CBN would investigate the claims of Dickson Anayo and other victims of Richard Olubameru and take appropriate measures to protect honest and hardworking Nigerians. He said they should make their petition available to the CBN.
The CBN boss said that he cares about Nigerians but that people often misunderstand his role in that he is not expected to get into everything. “We concentrate on the stability of our economy, measure its growth based on the sacrifices we make and risks we take, but to think that matters of internal concerns to different institutions would reduce from our successes is not appropriate.”
“We would send examiners to go. Better still, for the sake of making sure that no impunity is perpetrated, or to discourage cover-ups and victimization resulting from fraud, the EFCC and relevant arbitration bodies and even the Federal Character Commission may be sent in. We can send or alert the relevant agencies, but it is not the primary thing we do.
“I have run a bank before and I have cause to ask people to leave the bank. And even at the Central Bank, the only reason we have not been asking people to go is because our operations are protected by the civil service rules, because there are people in the bank who don’t perform, and they earn good salaries. It is to expect too much of a Governor of the Central Bank to go and stop the sacking of people at Haggai Savings and Loans.
“However if there is a petition to the effect that a pyramid scheme is on, we would take it all in that context and now wonder how banking supervision could miss that. To the best of my knowledge, Haggai used to be well run. I refused to make an issue of it when people were talking about non-interest banking. It is run by the Redeemed Christian Church and it is built around harvests and donations for the church. But so long as it does not take depositors funds and squander them, there would be no problem.”
Internal audit findings at the bank however pointed to how over-invoicing by workers loyal to the CEO, Pastor Richard Olubameru, has led to high costs on some of its homes at the Redemption Camp which it continues pass on to unsuspecting prospective home owners.
Also, Pastor Olubameru is accused of fraudulently taking money for the purchase of brand new official cars which he never buys, but takes as much as N5 (five million naira) but only spends less than one million as he only buys second-hand imported vehicles which breaks down in no time, only for him to request for another brand new car”. The cycle continues like that and it has been so for more than twelve years. He also helps himself to huge crumbs from manipulating the cost of diesel purchases.
When the regulatory examiners at CBN miss such little detail and do not cite Olubameru and other officials of the Haggai Bank for any wrongdoing or for wrongfully terminating diligent and dutiful internal auditors, Olubameru and some of his ‘Apapa Family Knights’, a very powerful cult in the Redeemed Christian Church celebrates that God is faithful to them and they are righteous. The Apapa Family members have deep pockets and always manipulate General Overseer E.A. Adeboye.
Governor Sanusi debunks the notion that his leadership at CBN does not care about the reckless conduct of bank executives who hardly inform, as banking rules demand, that the CBN be carried along before management officials are fired. “I care. My primary responsibility, however, is that shareholders’ money must be protected. If I have to make a choice between protecting depositors and shareholders, I would protect depositors.”
Sanusi explained that the CBN intervened in the takeover of three banks because some shareholders had become weird and wanted to clean out the banks
Sanusi said that the various factors that could lead to the sacking of any worker would be looked into and that if it is determined that people are unjustly targeted, the matter would be referred to relevant agencies for appropriate action.