A LOT  of mischief is going on in the banking sub-sector of Nigeria’s financial ecosystem since the Central Bank of Nigeria, on June 3, 2024, announced the revocation of the banking license of Heritage Bank Plc.

The not so subtle campaign by some faceless groups to demarket an otherwise solid financial institution like the Fidelity Bank Plc., however, has not escaped the attention of the discerning banking publics. But it is a mischief taken too far.

In revoking the banking license of Heritage Bank, the CBN made it clear that its board and management has been unable to improve the bank’s financial performance, a situation which the country’s apex bank says constitutes a threat to the country’s financial stability. 

A statement by Mrs. Hakama Sidi Ali, Ag. Director, Corporate Communications of the CBN, said it acted in accordance with its mandate to promote a sound financial system in Nigeria and in exercise of its powers under Section 12 of the Banks and Other Financial Act, BOFIA, 2020.

Many Nigerians, particularly those abreast of the goings on in the banking industry did not raise any eyebrows at the news of the revocation and subsequent appointment of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, as the liquidator.

But since then, mischief makers have been bandying the names of other banks – Fidelity Bank, Wema Bank, Polaris Bank and Unity Bank – that will go the Heritage way. To make their spurious claims seem real, they recirculated a circular issued by CBN on January 10, 2024, notifying the public about the dissolution of the Boards of Union, Keystone, and Polaris banks as though it was issued on June 10, 2024.

And even when the CBN, while insisting that the case of the now defunct Heritage Bank was an isolated one, stated unequivocally that allegations of further revocation of licenses prior to the completion of the bank recapitalisation exercise were mere fabrications of those who didn’t wish the banking sector well, such insinuations have persisted.

But the question that continues to concentrate the minds of many Nigerians is: Why Fidelity Bank? Of course, the question is pertinent considering the fact that even if the January 10 notification memo dissolving the boards of Union, Keystone and Polaris banks is taken to mean that the banks were in trouble, Fidelity Bank was not one of them.

It is, however, instructive that this mischief has become more strident in the last one week since Fidelity Bank signed the necessary documentation to raise about N127.1 billion from a public offer and rights issue to its existing shareholders to raise its capital base in line with the CBN’s fresh capitalisation directive.

The bank is eyeing N97.5 billion fresh funds from its public offer and N29.6 billion from its rights issue which offers existing shareholders one new ordinary share for every 10 ordinary shares held as at January 5, 2024, at N9.25 per share. For the Public Offer, 10,000,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each will be offered to the general investing public at N9.75 per share when the acceptance and application lists for the rights issue and public offer open on Thursday, June 20, 2024.

Speaking at the signing ceremony which held at the board room of the bank’s head office in Lagos on Wednesday, June 5, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, disclosed that “the proceeds of the combined offer will be applied towards investment in IT infrastructure, business and regional expansion, and investment in product distribution channels.”

With an international operating license from the CBN, Fidelity Bank is mandated to raise its capital base to N500 billion within the next two years and for a bank that is sure of its business fundamentals, it is not a surprise that it has effectively positioned itself at the forefront of achieving the revised minimum capital requirements for Nigerian commercial banks. No other bank is yet to embark on the process.

Could that be the reason for the campaign of calumny? If it is, then those on this demarketing campaign are tactless and dim. They would have known that the campaign died even before it took off.

But the dim-wittedness of the agents of doom beggars belief. If not, how could one envisage that one of the high flying financial institutions in Nigeria could be at the verge of being liquidated? What explanation will even the CBN give for taking such a step because the truth remains that if Fidelity Bank is declared insolvent today, then no other bank is safe.

Why?

Since Fidelity Bank was incorporated in 1987 and began operations in 1988, it has not looked back. Though it started with a Merchant Banking licence, it converted to a commercial bank in 1999 in a deliberate push to grow as a private limited liability company. Yet, not satisfied with playing the second fiddle, the bank transmuted into a Public Limited Company in August of the same year. Since then, it has grown from being a marginal player to one of the industry giants, securing its universal banking license in February 2001.

 In 2005 during the Chukwuma Soludo-engineered consolidation exercise, Fidelity Bank acquired the then FSB International Bank Plc. and Manny Bank Plc. to become one of the top 10 Nigerian banks. Six years after the consolidation, the bank was ranked not only the seventh most capitalised bank in Nigeria but also the 25th on the African continent. In 2011, it obtained its international banking license and following its renewed retail and digital banking drive, was ranked the fourth best bank in Nigeria in the retail market segment in the 2017 KPMG Banking Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey, BICSS.

Today, Fidelity Bank has presence in all the states and major cities in Nigeria and continues to rank among one of the ten main banks in the country by tier-one capital of nearly $1 billion.

In a report on April 11, 2024 titled, “Fidelity Bank in 2024: A Peek Under the Banking Bonnet,” Proshare, a financial services information provider wrote: “In two decades, Fidelity Bank has sweated its assets to grow gross earnings to N337.05 billion in FY 2022, with an average annual growth rate of 30.3 per cent. The group has diversified its gross earnings, averaging 16 per cent from non-interest income and 84 per cent from interest income. The consistent rise in digital income and foreign exchange gains appears to have supported the continuous rise in the lender’s non-interest income, providing a buffer for rising operating costs.”

Proshare analysts also estimated that Fidelity Bank will rise to full Tier 1 status in its next Tier 1 Banking Sector Report even as it currently leads second-tier banks in gross earnings, profitability, total assets, customer deposits, loans and advances.

In its report on the best performing banks in Q1 2024 based on pre-tax profit, Nairametrics, an online business magazine, said: “Fidelity Bank Plc. posted a pre-tax profit of N39.5 billion, marking a 120 per cent growth from the N17.9 billion pre-tax profit recorded in Q1 2023. During the quarter, the bank posted a net interest income of N99.6 billion, marking a 90 per cent YoY growth from Q1 2023. Fidelity Bank posted gross earnings of N192.1 billion during the quarter, as it also recorded a net income of N31.4 billion, up by 101 per cent YoY from N15.7 billion as of Q1 2023.”

Based on its outstanding financial performance, the bank was voted the most trusted wealth management company for 2023, earning top rankings for “financial soundness, quality of products and services, protecting privacy and security, and sensitivity to customer needs” by Investor’s Business Daily.

The odious attempt to precipitate a run on Fidelity Bank is financial sleight of hand of the worst sort. While the bank is not at any risk considering its very robust fundamentals, the banking industry may be worse such invidious campaign if unchecked.

Those who are trying to instigate instability in the country’s financial ecosystem should desist. Competition must not be a sleight of the hand battle.  

THE on-going right wing shifts in European parliamentary elections give the impression that there are seismic shifts in the plates of its politics. Please don’t worry yourself. There are no possibilities of earthquakes. These are mere rumblings in the belly of its body politic.

It is said that Europe’s far-right gained historic grounds in the elections, but the lesson for us in the underdeveloped countries is that it is better to view the right parties as becoming essentially the same. The lines between the right, centre right and far right, are becoming blurred.

Yes, the so-called far-right made political gains in Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Italy and France. But also, some centre-right politicians made moves to the far-right, especially to fight against migration.

In France, for instance, tougher legislation was passed in December 2023 against migration. President Emmanuel Macron who claimed to have been fighting the far-right in his country over the years, was on the same page with them. He rationalised his anti-migration shift as “a shield that we needed”.

But that did not shield him and his party at the European polls. Expectedly, the National Rally in France made gains at the expense of President Macron. Also expectedly, Macron switched into panic mode. Dazed by the defeats, he called legislative elections in France this month; three months early. Don’t mind the gambler.

In Germany, the right wing, Alternative for Germany, AfD, beat Chancellor Olaf Schoz’s centre left Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the elections by 16 per cent.

Although the far-right made gains, its 150 seats in the European parliament of 720, does not amount to any dramatic shift; what it does is to announce that significant populations in Europe are beginning to shed their toga of human rights and liberal disposition.

Before the elections, Europe which is never tired of talking about partnerships and shared prosperity with Africa, Asia and the Middle East, had been quite busy virtually criminalising migration.

To be sure, they are not opposed to European migration or continued occupation of other parts of the world. Just last month, France violently put down protests in New Caledonia, a colony in in the South Pacific. France does not only want a continuation of the so-called right of its citizens to migrate to that territory, but also, the French parliament voted that recent French arrivals in the territory would have the right to vote in provincial elections. The simple plan of France is to flood the colony with its citizens and eventually in “democratic elections” out-vote the indigenes and, transform the colony to a full French territory.

So, while Europeans think they have the right to freely migrate to other parts of the world, their political leaders are using any means possible, including criminality, to keep people from the underdeveloped countries from migrating to Europe. This includes consciously letting would-be migrants who can be saved, to drown in the turbulent seas. The Italian government of Premier Giorgia Meloni has a policy of denying ships with endangered migrants, safe harbour. It is a crime in that country for a ship with rescued migrants to rescue other migrants from the waves no matter the danger they face.

Circa 2005. Early evening in London. After initial commitments, some Western nations seemed to be reconsidering the debt deal with Nigeria. Italy was one such nation. After agreeing to an appointment to discuss the next steps, the country’s finance minister became unreachable. His assistants who had arranged the meeting claimed ignorance of his whereabouts. Progress seemed impossible. “Do you know where he’s staying?” Okonjo-Iweala asked Edith Jibunoh, my colleague who had been communicating with the Italians. The answer was yes. “Let’s go there,” Okonjo-Iweala said. Informed that there was no way of knowing if the minister was in the hotel or when he’d arrive, Okonjo-Iweala declared, “We’ll wait for him.” And so, the Finance Minister of Nigeria waited at the hotel’s reception for several hours for her Italian counterpart. The elusive gentleman finally walked into the lobby late in the evening. He couldn’t hide his shock when Okonjo-Iweala walked up to him with a smile. “Hello, your excellency. What a pleasure to run into you!” she said to the apologetic Italian. The meeting held, and progress was made.

 “What kind of person is Madam Ngozi? Who is she, really?”     

This is a question I am often asked about Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who turns 70 today. I’ve heard it from people of all walks of life, ages, and demographics, especially young people – professionals, undergraduates, secondary school students, and even children. Youths, in particular, are fascinated by Okonjo-Iweala. Soon after meeting her, she becomes their adopted aunty or mentor.

But young or old, many people want to know the person behind the visible aspects of her personal brand – the big eyes behind the glasses, the passionate and emphatic style, the rigorous yet simple communication that demystifies and humanizes difficult economic concepts… and of course, the unique fashion taste that has made local fabrics a staple in the wardrobes of society women.

The questions are not strange. In this era of heightened celebrity-dom, there’s a fascination with discovering the authentic persons behind the social media-crafted personas. So, who is Okonjo-Iweala, really, and what makes her tick? The story above gives an idea. Okonjo-Iweala is not only brilliant and high-achieving; she’s also passionate and focused on delivering results.

Let’s start with what the world already knows: Okonjo-Iweala is exceptional. It is not an exaggeration to say that she is one of the most visible and consequential public servants in the history of the country, widely admired and respected across the continent and the world. She was a 49-year-old Vice President at the World Bank when she was appointed Obasanjo’s second-term Finance Minister. In the intervening 21 years, Okonjo-Iweala has evolved to become the face of world-class, high-performing Nigerian technocracy in Africa and the world, a profile cemented by her current role as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization. And typically, she is doing unprecedented things at the WTO. Her leadership has energized the institution, boosted its profile and role as a key player in the global multilateral space. In words and deeds, she demonstrates a fact often forgotten: trade is a vital force for lifting nations and improving lives worldwide. Under Okonjo-Iweala, WTO member nations, after two decades of gridlock, agreed to reduce fisheries subsidies and expand vaccine production to combat COVID-19 and future pandemics.

The first woman to serve as finance minister and the only person to serve twice in that role, as well as the pioneer Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Okonjo-Iweala has blended high performance with a unique style and personality. Someone has described Okonjo-Iweala as the nation’s loving and lovable big sister who has your back but insists on the highest standards.

The evidence of her positive influence can be seen in the documented facts of her transformative contributions during the cumulative eight years she spent in government, as distinctive as her scarf. The positive impact of the policies and programs she helped conceptualize and implement, the projects she led, and the initiatives she inspired are still felt in national economic parameters, company income statements, on family tables, and in the pockets of individual Nigerians. The reforms and institutions she midwifed and supervised remain pillars of prosperity. Even now, in less prosperous times, they serve as bulwarks without which things would have been much worse. Many Nigerians still remember with nostalgia the four frenetic years she served as Finance Minister under Obasanjo when the superstructures of the modern Nigerian economy were conceptualized, fleshed out, and operationalized. As chair of the Economic Team, she led a strong team of technocrats in implementing wide-ranging reforms that restructured the economy as a viable and productive component of the global economy, harnessed hidden strengths, recharged the private sector, restructured the public sector for better performance, and raised household incomes.

The Obasanjo reforms, which came after two bleak economic decades under the military, changed the nation’s socio-economic landscape in unprecedented ways. Okonjo-Iweala played a starring role in this process. Nigeria is a nation with a short memory. We often forget how awful things were before Obasanjo. A friend once related on Twitter how her mother’s university lecturer colleagues were using ropes to hold up their trousers. Their pay was that bad. Under Obasanjo, their remuneration and working conditions improved significantly, and lecturers not only threw away the ropes but also bought second-hand cars and land. One cannot talk about Okonjo-Iweala’s first time as Finance Minister without mentioning the historic debt deal with the Paris Club of Creditors, which lifted the heavy decades-old debt burden, enabling the economy to stand, rise, and fly so well that it weathered the 2008 global financial crisis better than many developed countries.

Okonjo-Iweala’s return as Finance Minister under Jonathan with the additional portfolio of Coordinating Minister of the Economy was not universally hailed. As related in her book, Fighting Corruption is Dangerous, some powerful forces opposed her comeback because of the expertise and credibility she would contribute to a government they didn’t want to survive. And it took a dark turn that has become a part of our history. Despite the challenges, Okonjo-Iweala left a solid account that is being appreciated more and more. Economic management was robust and effective. In fact, as the Jonathan government was departing, global analysts were projecting that Nigeria, along with China and Qatar, would be among the top-performing economies in the world. Beyond the macroeconomic accomplishments, Okonjo-Iweala, with Jonathan’s approval and working with ministerial colleagues and the economic team, also conceptualized and executed one of the most productive economic expeditions in the country’s history to China. Based on a thorough audit of the nation’s infrastructural needs, she led the first delegation and then accompanied Jonathan’s delegations to Beijing on a trip that produced enduring results, reflected in some of the key current and future infrastructure we have in the country today: Abuja-Kaduna, Abuja light rail, four international airport terminals, and the Galaxy Backbone project, among others.

Another notable accomplishment was the number of key institutions that Okonjo-Iweala midwifed during her second stint in government. These include the National Sovereign Investment Authority, also known as the Sovereign Wealth Fund, and the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN). During this period, the iconic Youwin entrepreneurship program for youths and Project Act Nollywood, a support scheme for boosting technical skills in the movie industry, were also launched. At least 40 films produced by alumni of the program have been aired on Netflix.

The foregoing is in addition to countless other policies, programs, and initiatives to which Okonjo-Iweala has applied her unique blend of passion and professionalism, benefiting the country and its communities. This brings us back to the question, who is the woman behind the accomplishments?

The story at the beginning of this piece gives an idea, but there are many more. Okonjo-Iweala is not just a formidable technocrat and professional; she is also one of the realest and kindest people on the planet. Several years ago, as we were walking away from the plane after a Lagos-Abuja flight, we heard someone shouting, “Madam, madam!” It was the pilot. “I just wanted to thank you for boosting my confidence on my first flight ten years ago,” he said. He narrated how Okonjo-Iweala had come into the cockpit to congratulate him on a smooth flight. “Can I have another hug?” he asked. Of course, he got one from the nation’s favorite, brilliant aunty.

Nwabuikwu is a member of THISDAY Editorial Board

Many have celebrated, and others are preparing to celebrate, Fathers’ Day. Some men are busy grumbling that “their” day is not getting as much attention, and noisy approbation, as Mothers’ Day. Others are contending with a world that has become too busy with “father bashing” and “male gender bashing” to appreciate what needed to be appreciated. There are many men of genuine good faith, and fathers of exceptional inclinations who would put all father bashers and men bashers to shame and to flight. But let us leave all that and get on with today’s business. Please note that there is not an ounce of fiction in the following narrative.

This piece about a certain father was written at the behest of Rev Father George Ehusani. The reverend gentleman is a Catholic priest and a friend who has consistently invested in anything and everything that would improve the quality of any human being he encounters, advance the spirituality of the wider society and create future leaders who would be exemplary in every sense of the word.  So, I am here doing his bidding, since he wanted me to put in the public domain a true story of a man who was a father and a spiritual guide to his son.

“Prof”, Ehusani said over the phone after the initial pleasantries, “as fathers’ day is being celebrated in some places around this time, I would like you to write about … (identity withheld for now), whom you have often spoken about in some of our public engagements. Please, you need to share some of that moving reality you are privy to via your newspaper column. Yes, many people need to hear about fathers who were true fathers, as are many toiling, unsung and misunderstood fathers today. The general denigration of men and fathers, as well as the growing pretence that parenting now depends on how any adult feels about it, is doing incalculable damage to society”. So, here we are, to talk about a certain father.

The man was such a benign and edifying influence on his son, that the latter easily recalls, very vividly to this day, how this man often sat with him in front of the house one evening after another. It was during one of such evenings that the boy, a primary four pupil, brought his Michael West English dictionary in order to anchor the question he had for his father. This was not unusual, because whenever the boy came to join him in those solitary moments he sometimes inflicted on himself in the usually cool breeze that blessed School Road in Umuahia, it was like the unburdening of a soul to a trusted guide.

These moments were the boy’s favourite opportunities for asking his father the meaning of new words he had read about, and of asking him about anything whatsoever on which he needed clarification. A soberly quiet and clear-headed man of uncommon perspicuity and his son, all by themselves in the evenings, more often than anyone would expect of a father and son in the city. The man’s simple, patient and unassuming nature belied his deep knowledge of life and so many other things. The boy simply saw an older, and very dependable friend and nothing more – even though he called him father.

On that fateful evening referred to above, the boy had come to discuss the meaning of names. The word teacher spoke of clement weather and inclement weather during the boy’s lesson in Nature Study at school. He later checked his dictionary and it turned out that the word ‘clement’ meant “mild and merciful”. So, there he was with a simple question for his father: “Papa, did your parents know you were a very kind and gentle person before they gave you your name? His father’s name was “Clement”.

The man turned, looked at his son with some amusement and asked in return: “Why do you ask?” Then the boy explained what transpired in school earlier in the day.

Seeing the quizzical look on his father’s face the boy said, “Papa, that word is your name, and it describes you exactly. So, I have been wondering how your parents gave you a name that describes who you are”. The man smiled, rubbed the boy on the head and suggested that they went into the house. He did not answer the question. 

When the boy was ready to proceed to secondary school, he took the Entrance Examinations for several boys-only schools. But he was posted to a mixed sex school, instead. He was in tears, because several friends and members of his church always said that people who attended such schools stood a much higher chance of going to hell. Well, he was determined not to go to hell!

During the long vacation, after the boy had just finished his first year in secondary school, he came to tell his father that he no longer wished to change his school to an all-boys school. Believing that one must avoid mixed gender secondary schools in order not to get corrupted and go to hell, the boy was in tears when he was posted to a mixed school after the general common entrance Examinations. Now, he wants something else.

Patient as ever, his father asked why. The boy explained that it was better for him to face the challenges and temptations of daily living and come out successful, than to avoid the real world that he would come out to face after secondary education. The man, seeming totally unperturbed, tried to convince the little boy to stick to his original decision, to no avail. Midway into the holidays, the boy’s mother brought up the matter of change of school in the parlour one evening. His father told her that they would discuss it later and decide how to go about it. Till date, the boy never knew what his parents discussed. But no one ever brought up the change of school issue again, until he finished with secondary school education.

When it came to university education, the teenager said he wanted to study philosophy. Everyone: uncles, aunts, and possibly even passers by who heard what the discussion was about, were dead set against it. The boy wanted knowledge of the meaning and purpose of life, but everyone else was talking about employment and earning money. The young man’s father said nothing when the latter bought a JAMB form and applied to study philosophy at the university of Nigeria, Nsukka. He said nothing when the young man said that he would rather get involved in his father’s printing and publishing business, than go to the university to study anything other than philosophy.

Then, one day, during one of those evenings in front of the house, which the years never took away from them, the man asked his son: “Did you consider studying psychology?” The boy said the subject had too many wrong answers about human nature. The man said nothing to his quick retort. He knew his son’s familiarity with all manner of subjects. He saw his teenage son switch from the sciences to the arts a few weeks before his final year secondary school examinations. He watched him spend his money on comics, esoteric literature and science books. He saw the boy subscribe to many publications, including Spaceflight, which is published by the National aeronautical Space Agency (NASA) of the United States.

Unbeknown to the boy, his father was ever closely watchful and attentive to his stirrings. He was feigning aloofness while keeping a close tab and acting as a gardener whose only concern was to ensure that “This plant” actualized its true potentials, rather than follow the wishes of the gardener.

He was always more of a friend and protector to his son and his siblings, than a father. He never showed his boy whether he had any flogging skills, or huge and scary frowns often used by most parents and adults to drive home their authority. He would rather calmly explain  to you what is right and what is wrong. To make him admonish you was to disgrace yourself.

Going back again to the past, there was an occasion when the little boy stood before his father, helpless and confounded. He was facing judgment as a bad boy, for “smoking cigarette” at the age of four.  “I learnt that you spent the entire evening smoking cigarettes, so I want you to tell me who taught you such a thing”, the father said. The boy was silent. “The entire evening” kept ringing in his head. Meanwhile all he did was put the stub of a cigarette he picked up from the pavement in front of the house to his mouth once. He was disappointed when no smoke came out. The taste was revolting! He ‘smoked’ it by blowing at one end. But nothing came out of the cold and foul-smelling thing.

Then came the verdict: “Since you have already taken your preferred meal, namely dozens of cigarettes, you will skip dinner”! The boy was aghast. Surely his father had been misinformed! Dozens of cigarettes? Unbelievable! And cigarette is not food. Now, his dinner is gone! What a calamity!

His father mercifully brought the episode to an end before midnight when he, along with the boy’s ever-gentle mother, woke him up and inflicted a meal on him. Awake, the boy starred around him in consternation. “How could adults behave like this?” he wondered. His dinner was apparently hidden away somewhere all the while! And everyone made him believe that he was going to feed on cigarettes for the rest of his life. The same people who said you should not tell lies? Oh, the world must be coming to an end.

Bigman was 88 when he came to spend the Christmas with his son, as he promised. He only just stopped driving himself, at his children’s insistence, four years earlier. He was as happy as a baby on arrival. All his practical jokes came with him by the truckload. It was now him sitting with his son in front of the latter’s house. He was impatient for ‘a conversation’, from the moment he arrived. As they talked into the night, laughing and throwing jokes at the wind, Bigman began to say something specific, including messages, concerning all of his children.

Later, the same day, he was gone! When the bereaved called his childhood friend, Paul, who made the travel arrangements for Bigman’s last trip to Abuja, the latter exclaimed: “Oh dear! Okey, Papa’s last statement to me as he left for Abuja was ‘Paul, under no circumstances should there be any misunderstanding between you and your brother, Okey, or I would come from wherever I am and beat the hell out of you both”.

I am grateful to God Almighty for the parents he gave me. As for fathers’ Day, Bigman’s “Legacy” is ever-present for me. He was an insightful, firm, considerate, non-indulgent and very understanding father.