Santuraki, who described Tinubu as a president who understands how the levers of policies affect the well-being of the nation, urged him not to depend wholly on advisers while taking the reformatory steps aimed at rebuilding the nation’s economy.
He pointed out, for instance, that corporate owners’ restrictions should be tightened by this government, which must also increase its regulatory oversight.
Santuraki stressed, “They (The government) should not make it easy for banks to receive Government Spending Intervention because some of them will become very reckless with what they do since they know that at the end of the day, the CBN will intervene.
He spoke in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH, on Sunday, in Abuja, reminding that, “the Banking Sector is the livewire of the economy as such noted, “I think reasonably well; of course, one cannot avoid challenges once in a while but so far so good, the time limit that was introduced for MDs of the banks has worked quite well but some of the banks had issues because of this old co-structure which they were able to find a way around, to beat it.
“They found a way around it, I think the regulators have seen that loophole and have blocked it. I think they should implement it to the letter so our banking institutions are not dominated by single individuals. You know there’s a saying that the best way to rob a bank is to own one.
“So, those corporate owners’ restrictions should be tightened. Government should also increase regulatory oversight. They should not make it easy for banks to receive Government Spending Intervention because some of them will become very reckless with what they do since they know that at the end of the day, the CBN will intervene.
“The government is very important in our solutions, and once we do that, we will this Tinubu government will get it right,” the ex-Bank of Agriculture MD remarked.
Continuing, he added, “Some of our banks are expanding to other regions in Africa and have offices abroad, which indicates to you, the level of maturity that exists in that sector.
“As such, the regulators should not relent. They should continue to exercise very seriously oversight as far as the Banking Sector is concerned.”
While also cautioning against unrestricted Fintech operations in the country, the banking sector expert insisted, “There is another element that remains largely unregulated – that is the Fintechs. A lot of Fintechs are even overtaking banks in terms of size, so there must be stronger regulations.
“Those Fintechs must be brought into the regulatory fold of the CBN and other regulators because they’re also growing bigger.
“Once we can keep our eyes on those balls, I think the industry will do well and continue to do well,” the optimistic boardroom guru declared.
Santuraki who was also an ex-MD/CEO of FBN Mortgages Limited, similarly advised the Federal Government to put in place machineries that would ensure the return of the CBN to its original mandate, away from serving as conduit for intervention schemes.
He noted, “First, there was the lender of bursaries pumping money. That’s their traction, so for me, CBN should return to their orthodox mandate.
“We have said we should stop all this nonsense about intervention; I mean we should do an intervention, but not in the scale the CBN was doing it because insiders were the suppliers to these companies, these companies were also run by insiders and it was very, very messy,” Santuraki maintained.
On the crisis bedeviling the country’s education sector, Santuraki who until recently was the immediate past Pro-Chancellor & Chairman of the Governing Council of IBB University Lapai – the Niger State University, advocated the need for increased funding of government-owned universities for quality outputs.
He maintained, “With the rate at which our public universities have expanded, it’s not very difficult to justify, especially in terms of how much we need to maintain quality. We can only maintain quality if the universities are adequately funded. That, I have always advocated, even as the then chairman of IBB University, which is our state university. The same was my sing-song also as the Vice-Chair of the Committee of the Chancellors of state-owned universities in Nigeria.
“One of the things we grappled with is the undue leverage in power that the Union charged
“It was a very difficult thing to balance both powers with the resources available to the government vis-a-vis the need to properly run the school, including payment of staff salaries as well.
“In Nigeria, the university system we have is the central union for the publicly-owned universities. It’s not like that in every clime. In South Africa, for example, the unions are usually University-based, and that was the model I was actually canvassing for because some states have three universities, especially in the South-west.
“And a lot of education is taking place outside the university world, and that is one area that should be properly emphasised. Universities should use new technology to lower the cost of delivery. All these online things; once they do that, it makes education more accessible to people.
“Fortunately, most of these online training are accepted globally. So, if you have some of those qualifications, you can also be qualified to be hired by institutions outside the country,” he observed.
On the students’ loan scheme of the government, Santuraki who contested as a Senator in Niger State and was the chairman, Inauguration Committee, during the installation of the Governor of Niger State, Umar Bago, declared, “I believe there’s a mix of things that should be done. I think we should pursue the Students’ Loan Scheme and also, the Government should increase the allocation for education.”
Further expressing his views on the electricity sector, which he insisted is germane for SME growth across the country, he urged the stakeholders to “allow the poor to breathe,” warning that a marked increase in electricity tariffs may have the undesired effect on citizens.
“Any such plans should be phased out for now. Rather, the government should allow the impact of the fuel subsidy removal and also the escalation in the exchange rates following the unification of the multiple exchange rates regime to settle in after six months.
“Also, the logic of dollarisation of our electricity tariffs needs to be re-examined as it does not make sense.
“This appears to be the premise upon which the proposed tariff increments are based. We should be careful not to shorten the honeymoon and the public goodwill that the new administration currently enjoys,” he declared.
