- Continued from last week
The founding fathers of Bank for British West Africa deserve kudos for forging ahead regardless of the mischievous scheming and cynical tunnel vision of Lord Macaulay as conveyed in his address to the British Parliament on 2nd February 1835:
“I have travelled across the length and breadth of Africa and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country (sic), such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country (sic), unless we break the very backbone of this nation (sic), which is her spiritual and cultural heritage and therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Africans think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them (to be) – a truly dominated nation (sic).”
What was most remarkable about the Bank is that right from its inception, the managers were close to the powers that be – from the colonial administrators to kings, emirs, politicians etc. but they were careful to draw the boundary in order not to appear to be rivals (or contenders) of the power brokers.
They were also adept at managing crisis or dislocation. A case in point is the Civil War that engulfed Nigeria from 1967 to 1970. Igbo officers of the Bank who were trapped in the North and the South-West (particularly Lagos) fled in droves to the East and sought the assistance of the Bank for survival.
How the Bank coped with the tragedy of closing its branches in Biafra while dealing with refugees is a matter for another book. Even more challenging was the enormous burden which the Bank had to shoulder as it strove to resuscitate its abandoned branches and rehabilitate Igbo managers/staff who had lost everything on account of the war as well as the change of the Nigerian currency which left them mostly destitute, homeless and helpless.
The Bank of British West Africa evidently maintained a professional relationship with the colonial government and its civil servants. Fortunately, the Civil Servants were obliged to adhere to the Code of Conduct which was enshrined in the “GO” (General Orders) and “FI” (Financial Instructions). Consequently, the system provided a formidable bulwark against what we are now witnessing on a regular basis whereby corruption has run riot with reckless abandon combined with nauseating impunity.
In the old days, the Bank would have mounted huge pressure on the government in order to ensure that the budget was passed by the parliament well before the commencement of the financial year in addition to ensuring proper co–ordination between the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank in order to ensure cohesion between fiscal policy and monetary policy. Prudent management of the economy was paramount and it was anchored on the balanced budget.
What now prevails is unrealistic budget projections whereby revenue expectations are not aligned with the realities on the ground. Inevitably, the government has been piling up huge local and foreign debts leaving a trail of unsustainable debts, massive unemployment (especially amongst women and youth) and wobbling economy.
On CNN, the Minister of Finance, Hajia Zainab Ahmed solemnly declared:
“We intend to fund the 2019 budget through borrowing locally and internationally with a spread of 50:50. Our focus is on concessionary long-term loans.”
It was more or less the same narrative when her predecessor Kemi Adeosun was on Aljazeera:
“The first thing to note is that there are no quick fixes, but our strategy is clear and the expected outcomes are pretty compelling. Our immediate economic imperative is to provide a Keynesian stimulus to reflate the economy. The 2016 focus is underpinned by a desire to radically reposition Nigeria’s economy.
The 2016 budget is being debt funded and the borrowings are targeted at the financing of capital projects to address the infrastructure deficit, create jobs and build the platforms for optimisation of the non-oil economy that will see Nigeria prosper.
Our borrowing policy will remain conservative and will see us access the lowest available funds, hence our decision to approach multilateral agencies in the first instance, for budget support at concessional rates as low as 1.5% per annum.”
From totally unexpected quarters a bombshell or nuclear weapon was launched at the Bank. The consequences and aftershock of the earthquake were sufficiently grave to compel the Bank to suspend any further celebration of its one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary. The Government delivered a huge snub to its long-standing advisers – First Bank of Nigeria Limited:
There it was on the front page of “Daily Sun” newspaper of April 4, 2019
“Federal Government appoints Zenith Bank, Access, UBA as advisers For N3.4 Trillion Notes Issue”
On account of the Bank not “making the cut” (to borrow a golfing expression) with regard to the deal on the table by the Federal Government of Nigeria, social media has gone into a frenzy with wild speculations about why and how Zenith Bank, access Bank and United Bank for Africa [UBA] – “the new generation banks” – supplanted First bank of Nigeria. Some shareholders are insisting that the Bank should suspend any further celebration of its 125th Anniversary.
Fortunately, more sober minds have called for restraint and sober reflection. They argue that the disappointment should be regarded as a wake-up call which requires a recalibration of the Bank’s strategy. Fortunately, “Business Day” newspaper of April 10, 2019 carried the following front-page report
Bashorun J. K. Randle
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