It is no longer news that the NESG (Nigerian Economic Summit Group), few days ago criticized some policies adopted by the CBN in its bid to stabilize the economy.
What is however news is that following this criticism and CBN’s response, doubling down on its position, three members of the have NESG board resigned.
The three board members that resigned are Kennedy Uzoka, Group Managing Director of UBA Plc, Adesola Adeduntan, Managing Director of First Bank and Abubakar Suleiman, Managing Director of Sterling Bank Plc.
The reason they gave for their resignation was that they were not carried along by the NESG board before the release of the statement attacking CBN’s policy direction.
They said among other things “We were not consulted on the statement, and as directors of the NESG, and also managing directors of banks, we needed to consult with our board and get the nod.”
According to one of the board members, if they had issues with CBN’s policies, then they should have brought it up in the Bankers’ Committee rather than publicly.
He added ““Have you seen the Bank of America criticize the Feds, or Barclays Bank criticizing the Bank of England? Apart from that, there is also the issue of corporate governance in NESG. One of the directors’ in NESG and publisher of a newspaper, leaked an official statement and internal memo from NESG Chairman by publishing it in his newspaper.”
The now former board members of NESG called on the body to take a close look into its operations to ensure they are in sync with international best practices.
The CBN on the other hand has raised questions, wondering why the group did not approach it directly to discuss their concerns rather than making them public since they have always enjoyed a cordial relationship.
We are yet to get an official statement from the NESG concerning all that has transpired.