NGOZI OKORIE
FORMER Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Charles Soludo, has recalled how the 2005 consolidation in the banking industry produced mega businesses that can undertake mega projects in Nigeria.
Soludo, who spoke in Awka, the capital of Anambra State, noted that it was not easy pulling through with such huge reforms in the banking sector even though the nation was enjoying the benefits now, recounting how he received about 19 threats and how his children would have been kidnapped.
These threats came as the efforts were on, while the banking sector became stronger through recapitalisation and mergers that reduced the number of banks and increased their capital base from $15 million to $200 million within 18 months, he said.
Soludo recalled that no Nigerian bank was in the top 1,000 banks in the world before the banking sector consolidation, adding that to make an investment of $500 million, one might have to go through the 89 banks operating at the time.
No bank could also guarantee borrowing abroad, he said.
“Three years after, 14 Nigerian banks made it to the top 1,000 banks in the world, and two of them made the top 300 banks in the world. That was when Nigerian banks began to have the muscle to be able to compete for big businesses,” Soludo said.
He said mega businesses were impossible in Nigeria, including airline business, adding that the rich and mighty in Nigeria would not have been where they are today without banking consolidation.
“All of a sudden, businesses that could not borrow a few 100 million are now signing a $100 billion downstream investment. Impossible was the word before we came. The good thing was that it cost Nigeria zero to achieve it,” the former CBN governor said.
Soludo, who has declared his intention to contest for the Governorship of Anambra State, was the apex bank’s boss from 2004 to 2009
