The federal government has promised to persecute anyone found to be responsible for the failure of the erstwhile Skye Bank.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently announced the takeover of the defunct bank, and the formation of a bridge bank, Polaris Bank, in its place, in collaboration with the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).
The Minister of Finance, Hajia Zainab Ahmed, expressed government’s position on those behind the failure of the former bank during a familiarity visit to the NDIC headquarters in Abuja Friday.
A statement by the Director (Information), Ministry of Finance Hassan Dodo said the the minister directed the NDIC Managing Director/CEO Umaru Ibrahim to ensure that a thorough investigation is carried out in the failure of Skye Bank, adding that at the end of the investigations, all those found culpable in the failure will be prosecuted.
“The example of the recently wound-up Skye Bank, now Polaris Bank is something we would look into. We would find out what happened. Your investigation must be thorough, we are going to hold whoever was responsible for the failure of that bank.
“We have to show some examples, we cannot just be bailing out banks and leaving perpetrators of the failure of these banks to just go scot free. Even though you intervene by protecting depositors, but your intervention is limited.
“You’re not able to payback all that the depositors have. We must show some examples and this is a good one for us to start with,” the minister said.