Stakeholders of in the country’s banking sector on Tuesday raised the alarm that those who almost made the Skye Bank Plc go under before it was rescued by the Central Bank of Nigeria about one year ago with the composition of a new Board, have started fighting back.
The stakeholders, under the aegis of Concerned Stakeholders in the Nigerian Banking Industry, said it was alarming that after the current management had recovered over N8 billion debt, which was the major challenge it had before the intervention of the CBN, those who incurred the debt and were unwilling to pay, still have the courage to put out untrue stories about the Bank audits Board members.
The stakeholders, in a statement by their Chairman, Alhaji Bashir Monguno, said spreading falsehood and damaging stories in the media should not deter the management of the bank from going after the debtors.
The stakeholders said since the Bank put out a public notice on what the new management had done in its one year in office, they had been watching out for the reaction of those they described as “chronic debtors” who will not mind the investments of thousands of people going under to satisfy their selfish aim.
Monguno said in the statement: “Available information has it that the current management with Muhammad Ahmed as Chairman and Adetokunbo Abiru as Managing Director/CEO has recovered not less than N8 billion and still going after the debtors in a move that will finally stabilize the bank and put it on solid footing as it was before.
“However, the mindless people who cared less then about the survival of the institution, the investment of shareholders and the resultant job losses and its spiral effect if it goes under, are still not done owing to the fact that the debts they incurred are being recovered with vigour by the new management.
“They are bent on throwing mud on the leadership of thebans with their bogus claims and mudslinging.
“Certainly, the Bank knows what to do with such mudslinging. But we are encouraging the management not to be discouraged in this exercise of debt recovery.”
The stakeholders said the surest path to instilling confidence in the banking sector is by ensuring that the funds investors are not taken by a few individuals as loans and then not returned.
The statement added: “Once the banking sector overcomes this challenge of what has come to be known as Bad Loans, which are taken with the connivance of the Bank’s Board in most cases, then restoring investors’ confidence in the sector will be easier.
“And in this regard, the new management of Skye Bank is showing the way. And indeed, it is the only way to go despite the spirited efforts of a few people who have unpaid loans and are fighting with all they have to scare away those who have embarked on this noble cause of debt recovery.”
