VZCZCXRO9254
PP RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHUJA #1742/01 2611459
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 181459Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY ABUJA
TO RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA PRIORITY 2086
RUEHYD/AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE PRIORITY 1038
RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS PRIORITY 1981
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7062
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001742 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W, INR/AA, INL/AAE, INL/C 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KCOR KRCIM EFIN
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: CBN AND EFCC COLLABORATING ON BANKING 
INVESTIGATIONS 
 
REF: A. ABUJA 1562 
     ¶B. ABUJA 1290 
     ¶C. LAGOS 358 
 
1.(SBU) Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Assistant Director of 
the Banking Supervision Department Udofia Obot told INLOFF 
September 2 that the CBN will continue to audit all remaining 
banks in order to rebuild confidence in the banking sector. 
Obot, who has worked on money laundering issues for the past 
15 years and served as member of the Presidential Committee 
that created the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), 
claims CBN Governor Lamido Sanusi wants to sanitize the banks 
and undertake reforms to prevent another crisis in the 
banking sector.  Obot said he supported Sanusi,s decision to 
inject 420 billion naira ($2.7 billion) from the CBN into the 
five private banks under his &no bank will fail8 policy. 
Once the public regains confidence in the banking sector, 
Obot believed that capital markets and banking deposits would 
return. Such actions would facilitate renewed growth that 
would allow the banks to repay their loans with interest to 
the CBN. Obot added the CBN will take care of the banks, 
financial vitality, but additional efforts must occur to 
force the boards of directors of banks to fulfill their role 
in protecting depositors, interests.  "There are clear 
ethical issues in the banking sector that must be addressed," 
he declared. (Note: CBN Governor Sanusi announced that the 
results of the audits for the remaining 14 banks will be 
ready in October. According to the press, recapitalization of 
eleven of the banks will require only 150 billion naira in 
comparison with the 420 billion naira needed to recapitalize 
just the first five banks that were audited. End Note.) 
 
¶2.    (SBU) According to Obot, the CBN has created a manual 
on international best practices for conducting bank 
inspections due to Nigeria's banking crisis. CBN planned to 
use the new manual to train bank examiners placing greater 
emphasis on the use of the CBN,s administrative sanctions 
powers and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,s 
(EFCC) prosecutorial powers to bolster banking supervision. 
Obot believed this combination has already yielded results as 
many debtors who had refused to pay back massive business 
loans that were presumably obtained fraudulently, have now 
approached his office for settlement as they recognized that 
they could be taken into custody by the EFCC. (Note: Although 
defaulting on bank loans is purely a civil matter, committing 
fraud to obtain such loans is duly punishable under EFCC Act. 
End note.) Obot added that EFCC will prosecute the debtors 
and bank managers who have defrauded depositors and/or 
mismanaged funds since they have no political cover. 
According to Obot, EFCC Chair Farida Waziri appeared ready to 
challenge her critics and &wants to prove that she is 
capable8.  Confirming that EFCC is working closely with the 
CBN to recover lost funds, Obot cautioned that the judiciary 
has served as the primary obstacle to EFCC prosecutions by 
delaying cases and entertaining frivolous objections by 
defendants. To overcome these obstacles, he advocated the 
creation of &fast track8 Financial Crimes Courts system, 
with special jurisdiction and judges trained in complex 
financial matters. Ghana, he observed, has such courts which 
should be feasible in Nigeria as well. 
-------------------- 
NEED FOR CBN REFORM 
-------------------- 
¶3.    (SBU) Obot also advocated reform for the CBN itself. 
Although many press reports have criticized CBN,s lack of 
due diligence in providing banking oversight, Obot defended 
the performance of his Banking Supervision Department, noting 
that it had conducted examinations in the past year and 
warned then-CBN Governor Charles Soludo and bank operators of 
massive irregularities at certain banks. According to Obot, 
the CBN took no action to address the irregularities, which 
has resulted in the current crisis, and is primarily due to 
collusion between bank operators and CBN banking supervision 
regulators. To deter this type of collusion in the future, 
Obot claimed he has encouraged current CBN Governor Sanusi to 
establish limits on the tenure of the Governor and other 
high-ranking CBN officials to prevent regulators from 
 
ABUJA 00001742  002 OF 002 
 
 
developing conflicts of interest with the banks they monitor. 
Obot expressed confidence that Sanusi would implement these 
recommendations, characterizing him as a strict, fearless 
disciplinarian who has pledged to resign if the reforms 
failed. 
¶4. COMMENT: (SBU) Driven by CBN efforts to sanitize the 
banking sector, the EFCC has recently shown greater activity 
in investigating defaulters and bank managers. The EFCC has 
reportedly recovered 45 Billion Naira ($290 million) from 90 
accounts, representing roughly 41 percent of all outstanding 
loans and six percent of the outstanding loan value but may 
in overreached in certain circumstances in pursuing mere 
defaulters who were not defrauders. EFCC Chair Waziri 
relocated her offices to Lagos at the end of August to 
presumably better monitor the investigations. The EFCC has 
requested and obtained assistance from banking and financial 
market regulators. Although, some press reports have 
speculated that all of this is merely a charade to dupe the 
international community particularly the United States, EFCC 
officials reportedly want to resuscitate the organization,s 
image on corruption by taking concrete actions, partly in 
response to the Secretary's criticism of the organization 
during her visit to Abuja in August.  However, the true 
benchmark of EFCC,s commitment to play its role in fighting 
corruption will be the effective prosecution of bankers and 
other individuals implicated in causing the current banking 
crisis by doggedly pursuing allegations of collusion between 
bank operators and CBN regulators. (END COMMENT) 
 
¶5. (U) This cable was coordinated with Consulate Lagos and 
cleared with LEGATT. 
MCCULLOUGH