Azu Reviews Book On 2004 Banking Consolidation

Twenty years after the consolidation of the Nigerian banking industry, a book that chronicles the event “The Power of One Man: How the Soludo-Engineered Consolidation Transformed Nigerian Banks to Global Players” is set to be unveiled this Saturday in Lagos.

The book is expected to be reviewed by a seasoned journalist, author and entrepreneur, the senior vice chairman/editor-in-chief of LEADERSHIP Newspapers, Azu Ishiekwene.

Written by Dr. Ray Echebiri, a seasoned journalist and economist, the book captures lucidly the chain of events in the Nigerian economy, and the banking industry in particular, that led to the banking consolidation of 2004/2005, and what transpired during and immediately after the exercise.

It also captures in unmistakable terms how the banking consolidation transformed the Nigerian banking industry and placed it on the same pedestal with the banking industry of such regions as the Americas, Europe and Asia.

The revolutionary banking reforms that culminated in the emergence of 25 banks that had beefed up their capital base to a minimum of N25 billion.

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The book launch will be chaired by a Professor of Economics, Akpan Hogan Ekpo. Ekpo had functioned as vice chancellor of University of Uyo, member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), member of the Board of the CBN, director general of West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management, and consultant to many multilateral financial institutions and organisations.

Expected at the event are Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, during whose administration as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria the banking consolidation was implemented; Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, Governor of Anambra State, who initiated and midwifed the 2004/2005 banking consolidation; Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos State, whose state was the playground of the banking consolidation.

Also expected to grace the event are the governor of the CBN Dr. Olayemi Cardoso, Ernest Ebi, former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria; other deputy governors of the CBN who served with Professor Soludo; eminent bankers, captains of industry, government officials, members of the academia and media executives.