Crisis brews as house stops CBN’s proposed sale of Polaris Bank
The House of Representatives has asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to immediately suspend the planned sale of Polaris Bank Plc pending the conclusion of all processes for an open, transparent and competitive bid process in line with best practice and procedure for divestment of this nature.
The House also mandated an ad hoc committee to immediately review the total outlay by the Federal Government in Polaris Bank and account for the entire financial input in the bank by the Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).
Adopting a motion of urgent public importance by Henry Nwawuba, the lawmakers also want to determine whether the conditions and terms of sale are likely to ensure a positive return on public funds thus far committed to the bank, whether as bailout funds or other investments.
Moving the motion, Nwawuba drew attention to information circulating in social media on the proposed sale of Polaris Bank for N40bn.
He said the process of divestment from the bank should be done transparently and does not jeopardize the core reason for the CBN intervention in the bank.
He said it was necessary to avert public outcry and untoward reaction from critical stakeholders in the economy, foreign business partners banking community, depositors, Correspondent banks, etc. as it is also crucial to avoid the shortcomings of the previous similar exercise undertaken in the past.
According to him, Polaris Bank is borne out of the bailout of the defunct Skye bank Plc that failed due to poor corporate governance and non-performing loan for which a whooping sum of close to a trillion Naira of public fund was committed to resuscitating the bank.
He said the planned sale of the bank for a purported N40bn; amounts to just about four (4) percent of public funds invested in the bank, shrouded In secrecy and Opaque and requires that it is done in transparency and accountability to eliminate insinuations of corruption.
He warned against the sale of the bank in a way that will pose a threat to its stability, adding that it should be done in a transparent way and contracted to well-known and reputable core investors with proven track records, in order to avoid a flight to safety action by the customers. Nation
