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...For a better society... Friday, September 03 2004 Vol 17 No.30 News Editorial Politics Opinion Foreign News Fashion Metro Sports Features Columnists View from America Business Money/Market Maritime Aviation Motoring Rail/Road Don’t toy with reforms, Obasanjo warns bankers DAVID AGBA, Abuja PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday warned bankers not to toy with or politicize the on-going reforms in the banking sector. He gave the warning against the backdrop of moves by commercial banks on the National Assembly to scuttle the new N25 billion capital base stipulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). President Obasanjo stated this while opening the 10th annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in Abuja, adding that the 13-point banking sector reform policy was aimed at correcting the structural deficiency in banks and not to punish them. Obasanjo stressed that the banking sector reforms would empower them to restructure, redesign and reconceptualise their mission in a rapidly growing economy as well as make them less suceptible to shocks. The president said instead of condemning the new reforms, bankers should embrace the new policy as it will make them more efficient and credible. "I hope no individual or group will attempt to partisanly politicise the urgently needed reforms, otherwise, such people will be classified as anti-people and enemies of progress," he said. Corroborating the President’s position , CBN Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, said it was imperative for all stakeholders to support the reform programme in order to achieve results that would endure. He noted that he was glad at the critical reaction to the N25 billion capital base directive, even as the CIBN rose to show support for the reforms. In his paper, on "The Role of Banks in the implementation of the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS)," Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Prof. Ode Ojowu, said NEEDS was a response to the development challenges of the country. According to him, NEEDS was also a medium-term development programme aimed at reversing decades of social and economic decline, which according to him, would later move Nigeria towards the achievement of the much talked about millennium goals. The Economic Adviser blamed past administrations for misusing the huge resources from oil over the years by moving the nation from prosperity to poverty. � 2004 @ Champion Newspapers Limited (All Right Reserved). Powered By dnetsystems.net dnet�

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