Sanusi Lamido Sanusi starts a ‘bonfire of the bankers’ in Nigeria

How the 'Ben Bernanke of Nigeria' put his country's financial elite in the dock

LAST UPDATED 12:56 PM, SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

All those Brits and Americans who were crying for blood last year when the bankers got found out will be delighted to hear that there is another way of dealing with a banking system that's been decimated by bad debt. It could be called The Nigerian Solution.

When their financial sector lately experienced the same sort of collapse that ours did a year or so ago, the Nigerians took drastic measures. Last month, the intellectual, smartly-dressed governor of the Central Bank, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (pictured), bailed out five Nigerian banks - Afribank, Intercontinental Bank, Union Bank, Oceanic Bank and Finbank – with 400 billion naira (£1.6bn) of public money, and dismissed the heads of every one them.

"We had to move in to send a strong signal that such recklessness on the part of bank executives will no longer be tolerated," he said.

Sixteen Nigerian senior bank officials face charges including fraudWhile the heads of the failed British banks, men like Sir Fred Goodwin, Lord Stevenson and Andy Hornby, were planted in front of the Treasury select committee and expected to show contrition for their contribution to our economic crisis, the Nigerian authorities have gone much, much further. What they have done has been labelled a "massacre".

Now 16 senior bank officials face charges ranging from fraud, lending to fake companies, giving loans to companies they had a personal interest in and conspiring with stockbrokers to boost share prices. And one executive, Intercontinental's Dr Erastus Akingbola, is on the run. He is believed to have fled to Britain and the Nigerian authorities have started to look into extradition arrangements with the Home Office.

One of the executives charged is Cecilia Ibru, previously described as a 'corporate Amazon' and the 'First Lady' of Nigerian banking. Ibru, a dedicated Christian, comes from an elite Nigerian family whose business empire includes hotels, publishing, oil and gas.

After handing herself in to Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) last Wednesday, she was detained at

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The reason that the Islamic banking system will never catch on in the West is that people are predisposed to thinking with their heart instead of with their head in cases such as this. Whilst it would make financial sense to adopt such a conservative system (especially in light of what's happened to the global economy), the cultural implications of such a system would be met with widespread skepticism and negativity I imagine. One can try and legislate until the cows come home in order to reform the financial sector, yet when it comes down to it, the human condition needs to fundamentally change to cut out the greed and rabid pursuit of profit. I'm all for free market economics but there appears to be some who don't know how to draw a line as to where they stop in this game.

Posted by Maverick Top Gun at 9:58am on September 4, 2009

That is exactly what all countries should have done but no our lot get big pay off's at our expense.

Posted by Josie at 10:30am on September 4, 2009

H. L. Mencken: 'There is always an easy solution to every human problem - neat, plausible and wrong.' Belief that wealth belongs to Allah might work to reduce cash hoarding, but so could a Central Bank policy of deliberately induced inflation. Let's face it there will always be spills and people will have to clean up afterwards.

Posted by Paul Hirsh at 10:53am on September 4, 2009

Hi, I am setting up a live radio debate in which Sanusi will be challenged on his policies and actions. If any of you are interested in participating then please email me on africa@bbc.co.uk

Posted by Charlotte Attwood at 2:43pm on September 11, 2009