| Urhobo
Historical Society |
Whither Is Lamido Sanusi Leading Nigeria?
By
Peter P. Ekeh
In
2001, I had a nasty public dispute with the late
Dr. Bala Usman of Ahmadu Bello University and his close associate and
younger fellow-aristocrat
Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who was then Assistant General Manager at
United
Bank for Africa. In two engaging papers – “The Misrepresentation of Nigeria: the Facts
and the Figures” and “Ignorance,
Knowledge, and Democratic Politics in Nigeria”
– Bala Usman had assailed claims of autonomy made
by ethnic nationalities of Southern Nigeria. His vexation against the
assertion
that the resources of the Niger Delta belonged to its people was
particularly passionate
and led him to deride some major ethnic nationalities of the Niger
Delta. Bala
Usman urged Northern states of Nigeria to lay claims to those resources
because, in his vexed contention, mineral petroleum was formed from
debris that
the River Niger brought to the Niger Delta from Northern Nigeria.
I
thought that Bala
Usman’s point of view was dangerous ideology. In my reply to him in a
paper
titled “The Mischief of
History: Bala Usman’s Unmaking of Nigerian History,” I pointed
to facts and perspectives that invalidated his positions. Bala Usman
was a
brilliant man. He was also a wise man. In his wisdom, he did not
contest the
facts of my argument against the controversial propositions in his
papers. It was
also possible that another reason why Bala Usman did not reply to me
was that
his younger associate Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had taken it upon himself
both to
defend Bala Usman and to advance their common interests in the
aristocracy that
they shared.
In
an agitated paper titled “Usman,
Ekeh, and Urhobo ‘Nation,’” Sanusi not only
defended Bala Usman whose views I had attacked; he assailed me for what
he
thought was the illogicality of my position. Sanusi cited my Inaugural
Lecture
entitled Colonialism and Social Structure
in which I had argued that there were lasting consequences of
colonialism in
Africa. Sanusi hurriedly concluded that my attack on Bala Usman’s
denunciation
of Southern claims of ethnic autonomy was incompatible with my earlier
position
in the Inaugural Lecture. Now, my Inaugural Lecture was delivered at
the
University of Ibadan in 1980 when Lamido Sanusi was an undergraduate
student at
Ahmadu Bello University. As I subsequently explained to him and to
other
readers of my rejoinder in April 2001 (see “Organized Campaign in Defence of Bala
Usman and the Breakdown
in Nigeria’s
National Consensus”), Sanusi was mistaken in his assessment
of the
meanings of my lecture and of my rejection of Bala Usman’s belligerence
towards
the Niger Delta.
Sanusi’s
follow-up response became
less shrill and showed a different side of him. He
abandoned his previous effort to take me to a degradation ceremony by
alleging
that I had committed “intellectual suicide.” Uncommonly for his much
advertised
aristocratic class, Sanusi allowed that injustice had been committed in
the
Niger Delta. It was in the course of that calmer correspondence that
Sanusi
sent me a copy of a paper (“Issues in
Restructuring of Corporate Nigeria”) for publication in www.waado.org,
a Web site that I edit. I see that that paper has assumed considerable
significance in the public estimation of Sanusi’s persona. Rightly so.
It was
presented at an Arewa House forum organized by Northern Nigeria’s elite
in 1999
as part of the preparation for a new civilian order.
That
encounter with Lamido Sanusi eight years ago is worth reviewing because
it
reveals a good number of things about the personality and character of
the man
who now occupies one of the most important positions in Nigeria’s
public
affairs. First, it was obvious, at least to me, that Sanusi was a
determined
fighter for those causes that would advance his aristocratic claims to
privileged positions in Nigeria. How else would one explain his defence
and implicit
advocacy of Northern claims on the natural wealth of the Niger Delta
which his
elder compeer had articulated? Second, Sanusi seems to accept and to
share a
common point of view in his elite circles that what is good for the
Fulani
aristocracy is good for Northern Nigeria and therefore Nigeria. Much
has been
written in recent months, particularly by Southern scholars and
commentators,
about Northern monopoly of power under President Umaru Yar’ dua. In
fact, however,
what we are witnessing before our own eyes is a growing stranglehold on
Nigeria’s major institutions by one ethnic minority, the Fulani, under
the
cover of Northern Nigeria. Lamido Sanusi is in the midst of that
power-play and
he seems to be enjoying every bit of it.
In his now-famous “Issues in Restructuring
of Corporate Nigeria,” Sanusi
states an elementary truth about his identity: “I am
Fulani. I am Muslim. But I am able to relate to every Nigerian as
a fellow Nigerian and respect his ethnicity and his faith.” It is
fair to
say that Sanusi’s primary obligations flow from being a Fulani and a
Muslim and
that the layer of Nigeria or, indeed, Northern Nigeria is a convenient
secondary cover.
There
is another noteworthy peculiarity that is
manifest from Lamido Sanusi’s utterances and behavior. He is an
impulsive man,
a trait that has led him to stir up controversies. He is quick to jump
to
conclusions in a flash from ready-made templates. In 2001, I was struck
with
how rapidly he could pronounce my intellectual demise after reading a
bare
fraction of my writings. Others have complained about nasty comments on
the
Yoruba and the Igbo in his voluminous political writings. Such
impulsive
tendencies have exposed him to praise for being a truth-teller but also
to
charges of inconsistencies or, worse, insincerity in his claims of
fairness. For
instance, following Lamido Sanusi’s dismissive attack on a Kano-based
Muslim
scholar and preacher Ja’afar Mahmoud Adam for his brand of Islamic
doctrine,
from England came this brutal assessment of Sanusi’s character by a
fellow
Muslim scholar. Accusing him of hiding “the larger portion of his
character …
under the guise of ‘Islamic Scholarship,’” Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u tore
into
Sanusi thus:
People
can now distinguish between true Islamic
scholars [like Sheikh Ja’afar Mahmoud Adam] who adhere to the teachings
of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) and tried to abide by it and societal
chameleons [like Sanusi Lamido Sanusi] who could be bankers today,
political
analysts tomorrow, economists the day after tomorrow and the next
morning
appear as malikis with a dose of shi’a doctrines in their cupboard
(see
“Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s Narcissism and
Self-Glorification”).
There is much
more truth in that angry accusation than a scholar’s flourishes. The
bigger
question is this: having played so many roles, can Sanusi be called a
specialist in any one of them? For instance, can Lamido Sanusi
successfully
play the role of Chief Economist of the Federation, which is the
responsibility
of the Governor of the Central Bank?
Is
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi Qualified to Be Governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank?
Modern
economies are complex. A careless remark by
the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank in the United States or by the
Governor of Bank of England could lead to loss of sizeable wealth in a
single
day. Governors of Central Banks in most countries of the world are
labeled
chief economists of their nations because of the critical roles they
play in
their economic fortunes. For that reason, Governors of Central Banks
are
usually accomplished scholars in macroeconomic areas of knowledge as
well as being
experienced men or women in the management of their nations’ economic
wellbeing. In addition, they are expected to be extremely diplomatic in
their
public utterances. That is why they tend to be conservative in their
ways. The
position of the Governor of Central Bank is certainly not one for
firebrand
radicals. Because the economies of the world are no longer as
autonomous as
they were as recently as a few decades ago, Governors of Central Banks
must
also be experienced professionals who generate confidence in their
capabilities
beyond their national borders. That is why they are often compared one
to
another in our day in which national economies are inter-related.
The
question before the nation now is the following:
What are the qualifications of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi that prepared him
for his
new position of Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria? Is he qualified
for it? A
related question is this: how does he compare with his counterparts
elsewhere,
particularly in comparable African countries? These are fair and
important
questions because what Sanusi says and does as Governor of Central Bank
of
Nigeria will surely affect us all, probably for the rest of our lives.
Sanusi’s
Academic Qualifications for Governor of Central Bank
No
responsible nation will recruit a sociologist or
a political scientist or even an historian for the position of Governor
of its
Central Bank. This is because his or her assignment is specialized
within the
well configured knowledge area of monetary macroeconomics. Botswana’s
banking
chieftain phrased the matter severely but quite correctly. As Ms Linah
Mohohlo, the award-winning Governor of
Botswana’s Central Bank, once
told Euromoney magazine:
"African countries are not a homogenous group in terms of fiscal
management and standards. … The world economic
history is littered with casualties of fiscal mismanagement. Prudent
fiscal
management is indispensable in today's modern economies given its
potential in
underpinning an appropriate macro-economic balance as a basis for
sustainable
growth"
(see “Botswana
Bank Head Is Regional Governor of the Year”). In
its proper context, the Botswanan is telling us
that it takes much to prepare to fulfill the role of Governor of
Central Bank.
Sound and serious academic preparation, beginning with undergraduate
studies,
is the starting step in this grounding. Thereafter, potential
candidates for
the Governor of Central Bank must engage their colleagues with
publications
that will advance the management of the nation’s fiscal affairs.
The
information we have on Sanusi’s preparation for
his present position is sparse and unpublicized. We read that he did
his
undergraduate degree in Economics at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria,
graduating
in 1981. We do not know in what area s of economics he specialized. It
is
traditional at that University to write a Research Essay in the final
year. It
would be important to know on what topic Lamido Sanusi wrote his essay.
It is
also good information to know what class of degree he earned to enable
him to graduate
from that University. The publicity piece on Sanusi on the Web site of
Central
Bank of Nigeria tells us that Sanusi took M. Sc. (Economics) courses,
apparently without taking the degree at the end, although he is said to
have
obtained a distinction in Monetary Policy. Did he abandon the M.Sc.
project? We
are told that Sanusi returned briefly to teach at Ahmadu Bello
University. What
subjects did he teach? These are elementary facts that should be
available from
a full curriculum vitae of the Chief Economist of the Federation. They
are the
sort of questions that any interviewing body would demand from any
young
academic who applies for the position of Lecturer or Senior Lecturer in
any of
our universities. In addition, we may demand to know from Nigeria’s
Chief
Economist whether he took any professional examinations in banking
while he
worked at ICON Limited (Merchant Bankers) and United Bank for Africa
before he
became the CEO of First Bank of Nigeria. Finally, it will be beneficial
for our
judgment of the qualifications of our national Chief Economist to gain
information on whether his studies in Islamic Law at the University of
Khartoum, Sudan, in the hiatus between his years at ICON Limited and
UBA, were
related to his banking profession. The Central Bank Web site informs us
that
Sanusi bagged a First Class degree in his Islamic Studies in the Sudan.
These
are not over-bearing or over-probing questions. We would know about
such
background of the Governors of the Central Banks of any other African
countries
from their curriculum vitae.
Perhaps
more important is Sanusi’s publication
record. Fortunately, in modern times several vehicles exist for
accessing the
records of anyone who has engaged in academic or professional
publishing. For
this exercise I have employed the liberal vehicle of Harzing’s
Publish or Perish. The result for Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is
distressing. He has ten papers listed. They come from such
newspaper-grade media
sources as www.gamji.com
and Daily Trust. All of them are about Sharia, Islamic Law and women.
None of
them is about economics or banking. The Web site of Central Bank of
Nigeria
boasts that Sanusi has publications in learned journals, but none is
listed. They
surely do not appear in the public record.
What
is compelling about Sanusi’s public record is
that a number of things stand out when his publications are compared to
those
of other Governors of Central Banks in comparable African nations –
using the same
vehicle of Harzing’s Publish or Perish.
With a record of forty-two publications listed, almost all of them
focused on
economic and monetary matters of Kenya, Professor Njuguna Ndung’u must
be
adjudged to be a formidable Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya. Also
revealing is the publication record of the Governor of Ghana’s Central
Bank. Since
his doctoral thesis on A Macroeconometric
Analysis of Export Instability in Economic Growth for the
University of
Pennsylvania in 1972, Paul Acquah has engaged in serious academic and
professional
discussions of macroeconomic issues for Ghana and other African nations
(e.g.,
Zaire) as well as for the whole continent in published media. Ms Gill
Marcus of
South African Reserve Bank is formidable from several perspectives,
including
an impressive record of publications. Finally, Sudan’s Central Bank’s
Governor,
Dr. Sabir Mohamed Hassan, has an impressive record of published
engagement with
an analysis of his country’s economy.
Two
features separate Lamido Sanusi’s published works
from those of these other Governors of Central Banks of comparable
African
nations. First, they are not devoted to politics and religion –
subjects to
which Sanusi appears wholly committed, to the apparent exclusion of
economic
analysis. Second, Sanusi shows no interest whatsoever in economic and
banking
analysis, not even of risk-management, in his published records. On the
other
hand, according to their published public records, Africa’s other
Governors of
Central Banks are substantially devoted to the academic and
professional analyses
of the economic circumstances of their nations. It should be clear to
Nigerians
that President Umaru Yar’ dua could not have chosen Lamido Sanusi as
Governor
of the Central Bank of Nigeria on account of his accomplishments in the
understanding of Nigerian and African economic issues. Nor did the
Senate that
confirmed him so readily bother to ask pertinent questions with respect
to his
relative qualifications in the context of African economic
circumstances.
Lamido
Sanusi’s Temperament
Even
if potential candidates were well qualified in
professional and macroeconomic matters, those examining them for the
enormous
office of Governor of Central Bank are expected to weigh the
candidates’
temperament along with how well they will relate to significant
portions of the
nation. Lamido Sanusi probably tells the truth, as he sees it, without
fear or
favour. In other words, he sees himself as a gadfly in public
discourse. In
doing so, he offends significant constituencies. Should he therefore
expect to
hold an office that is owned by the entire country?
Dr.
Frederick Fasehun’s recent statement on the
appointment of Lamido Sanusi reveals major flaws that would in ordinary
circumstances disqualify other Nigerians from holding this high office.
It is
enough to cite Fasehun’s reactions to Sanusi’s derisive
characterization of various
sections of the country. Fasehun writes:
Sanusi
has remained unapologetic and unrepentant of his ethnic chauvinism. In
the
past, he has said of the Igbos in a paper,
"Issues in Restructuring of Corporate Nigeria," that: "The Igbos themselves must acknowledge that they have
a large
part of the blame for shattering the unity of this country."
Having said that this nation must realise
that Igbos have more than paid for their
foolishness, he said in
the same piece: "The Yorubas: the
greatest
obstacles to nation-building, are the Yoruba Bourgeoisie, I say this
also to
underscore my point that until they change in this attitude, no
conference can
solve the problems of Nigeria. The country cannot move forward if the
leadership of one of the largest ethnic groups continues to operate,
not like statesmen,
but like common area boys."
And on Afenifere he declared: "A Syllabus
of
Errors … the problems of this country have a lot to do with the
shift in
power away from the Fulani to individuals like Babangida
and Abacha, products of lower cultures.
The Fulani of
the North, proud of the history of the establishment in Nigeria - Ahmadu Bello, Murtala
Mohammed, Aminu Kano, Shehu
Yar'Adua, Shehu
Shagari, Jibril
Aminu. They are sad that other Nigerians do
not know the
difference in ethnic background between, say, Murtala
Mohammed [Fulani] and Ibrahim Babangida [Gwari]."
Sanusi
has made many other fetid pronouncements about various ethnic groups
other than
those catalogued by Dr. Fasehun above. In a dominant group like the
Fulani, one
is likely to encounter talkative and boastful members of a
self-proclaimed
aristocracy. But one would not expect one of those loquacious
boast-masters to
be the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The
same reservoir of ill-temperament that supplies such an abundance of
insults on
other people has empowered the impulsive behavior of our new Governor
in his
short service as the Chief Economist of the Federation. Central Bank
Governors
in most other nations -- at least those who are professionally
competent --
would take at least six to twelve months to study the complex tasks in
their
new responsibilities. But, presuming that he understood all the
compound
economic problems in the nation’s banking system, Sanusi rushed into
his new job
with ready-made solutions. The result is the mess in which we now find
ourselves.
Matters
of Credibility: Some Questions for Lamido Sanusi
More
than most professions, bankers rely on their
credibility and the trust that they earn from others in order to thrive
in
their onerous duties of taking care of others’ financial resources. In
modern
banking such trust is virtually transnational. With Governors of
Central Banks,
trust at home and abroad is their gold standard. Any Governor of a
Central Bank
who has no credibility threatens the economic and financial welfare of
the
nation that he or she is deemed to be serving. Sadly, Lamido Sanusi has
begun
his tenure as Governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank with a heavy baggage
of
mistrust. This is a problem that he cannot brush off with a mere waive
of assumed
aristocratic arrogance.
Was
Lamido Sanusi Aware of a Conspiracy to
Destabilize Nigeria’s Banking System?
On March 23, 2009, Vanguard (Nigeria)
Newspapers published an article that
revealed an alleged plot that looked
improbable at time of its publication. The background was the Banking
Consolidation
exercise that Sanusi’s predecessor at the Central Bank, Charles Soludo,
had
undertaken in order to strengthen Nigeria’s banking institutions. It
led to the
reduction of the number of Nigeria’s banks from 89 to 25. It was an
exercise
that, among other things, wiped out all the banks that were owned by
Northern
Nigerians, causing much offence in that large and politically
influential
region of the country. Vanguard’s story of March 23, 2009, was about
how to
redress this loss. It reported on how a group of influential
Northerners, mostly
former bank owners, planned to deny Charles Soludo a second term as the
Governor of the Central Bank, install a new Governor of Northern
origin, and
cause panic in the banking industry in ways that would enable the
Federal Government
to inject public money into five targeted commercial banks, leading to
their
takeover by Government and their eventual re-sale to the plotters. In
Vanguard’s
report, one of the leading candidates, who were being canvassed for by
the
plotters to replace Soludo as Governor of Central Bank, was Sanusi
Lamido
Sanusi. The Vanguard reporters’ words deserve to be recalled here: “The
group is using this means to make depositors panic and
undertake massive withdrawal of funds from the targeted banks in an
attempt to
cause liquidity problem in the banks. In that state they hope to cause
a take-over
by the government which may buy a stake in the banks and later sell to
members
of the privileged group who may be appointed in the interim into the
boards of
the banks.”
Five
months after Vanguard’s remarkable publication, much of what it
reported in
that alleged conspiracy was carried out, to the letter of the alleged
plot.
This is how Vanguard (August 26, 2009) itself celebrated its remarkable
reporting:
“Vanguard,
your best-read newspaper, 23 March 2009, did a world exclusive on
alleged plot
by a group of individuals to take over five banks in the country. … Two
weeks
ago, the new Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido
Sanusi,
sacked the chief executives and boards of five banks, therefore
confirming our
scoop of March 23.”
Our
simple questions are as follows.
(i) Before
his appointment and before he
assumed his new office, was the Governor of Nigeria’s Central bank,
Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi, aware of this conspiracy? One hopes that he was not
party to
such a horrendous conspiracy against the Nigerian people. Nigeria
deserves
to know the truth.
(ii) Was
Sanusi’s targeting of the five
banks, which Vanguard reporters foresaw as part of the conspiracy
months before
he was appointed to his new office, unrelated to the alleged plot to
take over
Nigeria’s five top banks? Was this a mere coincidence?
If we
had a well-functioning National
Assembly, these questions would come from elected representatives of
the
people. Sadly, the National Assembly is not in a position to raise such
questions on behalf of the Nigerian people. But it may well be that
Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi will be willing to answer such simple questions by
providing
straightforward answers to the Nigerian people. What is also clear is
that
Sanusi’s professional colleagues, in Nigeria and in the international
banking
community, will be watching very closely and very carefully to see how
Sanusi
responds to these questions which bear on his credibility and hence on
the fate
of the Nigerian economy.
Is
Jailing One’s Competitors the
Banker’s Way of Doing Business?
There
is another question on Sanusi’s conduct in which
everyone else should be interested. Before President Umaru Yar’ dua
appointed
Sanusi as the Governor of the Central Bank, he was the Chief Executive
Officer
of Nigeria’s First Bank. Before then he was an Assistant General
Manager of
United Bank for Africa. He was in these positions in the years in which
the
banking industry was transformed by fierce competition that enabled new
banks
to rise to the top and to compete effectively with the older banks. In
these
years, the five bank executives, whom Sanusi summarily sacked less than
two
months after becoming the Governor of the Central Bank, were his fierce
competitors. Many of these banks and their chief executives were
acclaimed by
national and international banking organizations as professionally
competent
bankers. They were rewarded with commendations and prizes. None of
these
honours went to Sanusi or the banks or divisions of banks that he
managed.
Is
it not strange that Sanusi has hurried to use his
new powers of Governor of the Central Bank to jail his former
competitors,
accusing them of taking risks? Is there any room left for shame in
Nigeria’s
public affairs? This is a story that might be expected from a banana
republic.
Is that not what Sanusi and his compeers are now turning Nigeria into?
Some
Concluding Thoughts: Witnessing the Dismantling of Nigeria
In
the early 1960s, shortly after Independence,
Nigeria was in turmoil. The House of Representatives was about to
declare a
state of emergency in Western Nigeria. Anthony Enahoro, a Member of the
House,
warned that the nation was about to unleash a chain of events whose
unknown
consequences we might not be able to control. We are probably in
greater peril
in 2009 than we were in the early 1960s when Chief Enahoro uttered that
warning.
The difference is that, this time we know what is coming to us. We know
it
because we have seen it several times before. Sanusi is going to take
Nigeria’s
banking institutions to the same type of failures that we have
witnessed with
Nigerian Airways, Shipping Lines, Railways, etc., etc. Is it not a
shame that
Kenya, Ethiopia, and Ghana can run and mange these institutions that we
once
had in abundance? In 1963 Nigeria Police Force was selected by the
United Nations
to train Congo’s troubled Police Force. Now, see the mess into which we
have
turned what was once a world-class Police Force.
Post
by post, pillar by pillar, Nigeria is being
dismantled by a self-professed aristocracy whose sole competence is in
plotting
to take over what others have built. By the time Sanusi finishes with
his
various unpredictable schemes, Nigeria’s banking system will be in
shreds – in
the same way our other institutions have been ruined. Thereafter, he
will
present himself as a candidate for the office of the President of
Nigeria and he
will expect to win because of his ethnic origin. Sadly, that is now the
Nigerian story.
Peter
P. Ekeh
Professor
State
University of New York at Buffalo
September
15, 2009