Senate to meet CBN governor over banks’ rating

By Adebayo Waheed - 03.07.2009

THE Senate Committee on Banks and National Planning is expected to meet with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Lamido Sanusi, over the rating of commercial banks in the country, which revealed that only four of them are strong.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on National Planning, Senator Zainab Kure, who disclosed this, on Thursday, in Ibadan, said members of the committees were on a visit to the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) as part of their oversight function to have an on-the-spot assessment of the situation at the institute.

Report had revealed at the weekend that out of 25 banks operating in the country, only Diamond Bank, First Bank, Skye Bank and GT Bank are strong; 10 are satisfactory, eight shaken while the remaining four are distressed.

Explaining why no arm of the Federal Government had reacted to the validity or otherwise of the report since then, Kure said the Senate Committee on banks and national planning had scheduled a meeting with the CBN governor, during which he would explain the details and authenticity of the report before the Senate made public comments on it.

She said the committee was determined to increase budgetary allowances to research institutes in the country, adding that meaningful development was based on research findings.