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Vested Interest Killing Nigeria -Sanusi
Trading on the floor of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE).
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, says the huge vested interest of economic and political officeholders has been the major barrier to Nigeria realising its huge economic potential.
Speaking on the topic “Overcoming the fear of vested interest” on an occasion organised by a group of youth under the aegis of TEDx in Abuja, Sanusi said that, in 1960, Nigeria was the preferred investment destination with per capita income higher than that of countries like Japan and South Korea.
However, over 53 years later, he said, Nigeria which has always had potential is still not able to realise that potential when countries like China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Brazil have since turned the potential that they had into reality.
“In four years or so that I have been in Abuja, I have come to understand that we need to overcome the power of vested interest. And I will talk with you a little bit about my own experiences at the Central Bank and use that as a basis or template for what I think we need to do if we must change this country,” Sanusi said.
Since the discovery of oil, the Nigerian state has been exploited to serve the vested interest of the rich minority at the expense of the poor majority, he noted.
The CBN governor highlighted some instances where vested interest took precedence over public interest in the country in the banking sector, petroleum subsidy scandals, among others, and urged the youth to use these as examples of what they can do if they want to confront these vested interests and deal with them and protect the poor people of this country.
“The fundamental character of the Nigerian state is that, for decades, since we found oil it has existed not to serve the people but as a site for rent extraction to serve a tiny minority in the country’s political power. And it doesn’t matter where this group comes from – whether it is north or south or Muslim or Christian or military or civilian. The state has always been a site for rent seeking with the exception of a few years when we have had development. And this is at the heart of the problems of the country,” he stated.
He spoke on the Nigerian paradox: “A country that specialises in exporting what it does not produce and importing what it produces; one of the world’s largest producers of crude oil that does not refine petroleum products but imports refined petroleum products; the world’s largest producer of cassava that does not produce starch or ethanol. Large tomato belt yet the world’s largest importer of tomato paste. A country that from my childhood I have heard had the potential of being a world power but every day we talk about potential. Today, we still talk about the potential of Nigeria and yet China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Brazil, all of these countries have turned the potential that they had into reality. What is the one thing that we need to do to break this barrier that faces us?”
On his experience: “Shortly after I came in and when we conducted investigations, I discovered that the Nigerian banking system was infested with the same corruption of the entire system in the country: that a number of bank chief executives had taken their banks and fleeced them of depositors’ money to buy property all over the world. And just like people do in ministries, in government agencies, or whenever they have the opportunity in oil companies, the banks were themselves a site for rent seeking.
“There was one chief executive officer that took away from her bank over N200 billion, and where was this money taken? Purchase of properties.
We recovered from one CEO 200 pieces of real estate in Dubai, real estate in Johannesburg, in the United States of America, apart from shares in over 100 companies and all of that was purchased with depositors’ money.
“For another CEO we got a judgment against that CEO for N142 billion stolen from the bank taken to buy shares and manipulate the shares of his own institution, and also transferred outside to purchase properties.
“Now, the first CEO we were able to convict, we recovered these assets and got a six months’ sentence and sorted it out. The second CEO, we finished our case established in Nigeria that we have a case in Nigeria, in the UK; two weeks before the closing statements were made the judge was miraculously promoted to the Federal Court of Appeal after three years of trial — at the very end of trial — because someone, a very popular religious leader with hundreds of thousands of supporters, carried him to the political authorities and the system that was supposed to protect depositors and handle criminals was used and manipulated to promote a judge so that he would not convict a thief. Now, this is an example of the kinds of things that happen in the country that prevent it from realising its full potential.
“Now, to my experience with the banking reforms, I observed the following: After the discovery of the things that happened in the banks, the most important thing was to take a critical decision that would pit us against powerful political and economic forces. We were dealing with chief executives that, in 2009, had become invincible. They were in the seat of power; they had economic power and had bought political protection. They were into political parties, they had financed elections of officers and they believed that nobody could touch them. And every time I said it was time to take action people said to me, ‘You can’t touch those people; you will be sacked’. Or, ‘You can’t touch these people; they will kill you’. And I said, you know what, we are going to take them on.
“And we took a decision to remove them, and, you know what, we removed them and nothing happened. We were going to prosecute them, put them in jail, and we put one of them in jail. We were going to recover these assets because the way the Central Bank operated in the past was such that these guys took all the money and the Central Bank said the banks have failed. The banks that we saved had N4.4 trillion in deposits. They had 8 to 10 million customers. But the government and the system had always betted on the side of the rich people. These 8 million customers — the old woman in Gboko or Yenagoa or Maiduguri who has struggled to save money for 40 to 50 years — and you wake up one day to say that the bank has failed and the money is gone. The man with his pension money in the bank, his children’s school fees, the medical bills, and you wake one day to say the bank has failed.
“When people say a bank failed, it is like seeing a man whose throat was slit and you say the man died; he didn’t die, he was killed. And those that murdered the banks have always walked free – they become senators and governors, they become captains of industry, they sit on the boards of banks and continue to be relevant in the system. Against millions of Nigerians who don’t have a voice.
“Nobody knows the number of people who have died as a result of failed banks. Because they were sick and could not pay the hospital bills, because their money was locked up in banks that had failed. Nobody knows the number of children whose parents could well afford to pay their school fees but they dropped out of schools because banks were mismanaged. Use these as examples of what you can do if you want to confront these vested interests and deal with them and protect the poor people of this country. But the banking industry is one sector in Nigeria; what is happening in other sectors?
“Take the oil industry: in 2009 this country paid N291 billion subsidy for petroleum products. By 2011, this number had jumped to N2.7 trillion. Did we start consuming 10 times the level of petrol? Did we have 10 times the number of cars? Did the population of Nigeria multiply 10 times? I do not believe these numbers. I screamed against these numbers and other people screamed and there have been investigations, and it was discovered that a lot of that money never went into fuel subsidy that was consumed by Nigerians. But people in this country had produced pieces of paper and gone to PPPRA and they stamped those papers claiming that they brought in petroleum products and actually paid them subsidy. And those pieces of paper said I brought 40,000 metric tonnes of petroleum product on so and so ship, and we discovered that that ship was nowhere near the shores of this country on the dates indicated.”
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have foiled attempts by drug trafficking syndicates to smuggle illicit substances concealed in carton walls, winter jackets, and body cream containers through Murtala Muhammed International Airport and a Lagos-based courier firm.
The agency said two consignments bound for Italy were intercepted at the Lagos airport, leading to the arrest of suspects linked to the shipments.
In a statement released yesterday, the agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said one of the suspects, 37-year-old Friday Ehianuka, was intercepted on Friday, March 20, 2026, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Rome, Italy.
The statement partly read, “Two of the consignments heading to Italy were to be moved through the Lagos airport where two suspects linked to the shipments were promptly arrested.
“One of them, 37-year-old Friday Ehianuka, was going to Rome, Italy on Friday, March 20, 2026, when he was intercepted while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight with 2,698 pills of tramadol 225mg concealed in containers of skin-lightening body cream, all packed in the suspect’s luggage.
“In his statement, Ehianuka, who is a resident of Milan, confirmed that he was to be paid a negotiated fee in Euros if he had succeeded in trafficking the consignment to Italy.”
In another operation on Wednesday, March 18, Babafemi said NDLEA officers at the departure hall intercepted another passenger, Christian Agbonhese, attempting to board a Lufthansa flight to Milan.
A search of his luggage uncovered 23,150 pills of tramadol 225mg, 4,000 tablets of tapentadol 250mg, and 1,320 pills of tramadol 100mg concealed in two large winter jackets.
“No fewer than 23,150 pills of tramadol 225mg; 4,000 tablets of tapentadol 250mg; and 1,320 pills of tramadol 100mg, all concealed in two large winter jackets, bringing the total number of opioids recovered from him to 28,470 pills. The 38-year-old Agbonhese is also a resident of Milan,” the statement added.
In a separate operation at a courier firm in Lagos, Babafemi said NDLEA officers on Monday, March 16, intercepted two parcels of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis weighing 1kg, hidden in a carton shipped from the United States.
“Also thwarted was an attempt to export 158 grams of methamphetamine concealed in the walls of a carton to New Zealand,” he said.
In Kano State, operatives arrested Abdulkadir Mamuda, 35, with 102.5kg of skunk at Dan-Tsalle, while another suspect, Uche Johnson Festus, 47, was nabbed at Naibawa Gabas with 95.5kg of the same substance.
Babafemi said the agency also recovered 21,737 bottles of codeine-based syrup during a raid at Otto, Ijora area of Lagos on Wednesday, March 18, adding that two suspects, Chidiebere Anigbogu and Paul Nwagbara, were arrested the same day on the Third Mainland Bridge while conveying 8,380 bottles of the syrup.
In Edo State, operatives recovered 97.5kg of skunk from the residence of Akeem Idde, 37, in Ojah, Akoko-Edo Local Government Area on March 16.
In the FCT, officers intercepted a commercial bus along the Gwagwalada Expressway on March 18, recovering 91,840 pills of tramadol hidden in body compartments of the vehicle. The driver, Aminu Ali, 27, was arrested.
In Oyo State, a suspect, Bankole Bari, was on Tuesday, March 17, arrested at Oke-Oyan, Ibarapa LGA, with 71.2kg of skunk, which he smuggled into Nigeria from Benin Republic through the Oyan River.
In a similar development, “Not less than 586,000 pills of tramadol and Exol-5 were recovered by NDLEA operatives from Lawal Anas, 28, along Kaduna-Zaria Highway, Kaduna, on Tuesday, March 17, while 7,290 tablets of tramadol 225mg were seized from Musa Shuaibu, 22, at the same location on Friday, March 20,” Babafemi said.
In Taraba State, officers intercepted Aliyu Adamu, 26, along the Takum-Jalingo Highway with 77,660 capsules of tramadol, while in Adamawa State, six suspects were arrested in connection with the seizure of 82.8kg of tramadol in a truck in Yola.
The suspects include Ramatu Aliyu, Jungudo Abdullahi, Najid Abdullahi, Musa Mohammed, Usman Abdulrahim, and Musa Mohammed.
The agency said its commands across the country also intensified War Against Drug Abuse sensitisation campaigns in schools, worship centres, and communities during the week.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers of the MMIA, DOGI, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Edo, Oyo, FCT, Taraba, and Adamawa commands for the arrests and seizures, urging them to sustain the balanced approach to drug control efforts.
News
RSG Applauds FRSC, NDLEA For Enhancing Security In Rivers …As NDLEA Pushes For Drug Tests In Schools, NYSC Camps
The Rivers State Government has commended the dedication and collaboration of federal government agencies in sustaining security in the State.
Speaking during a courtesy visit by the State Commander of the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), CN Bature Dawa, in Port Harcourt, last week, the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Dagogo Wokoma, said Governor Siminalayi Fubara appreciates the strong synergy between the agencies in promoting his administration’s vision of peace, prosperity and progress in the State.
Wokoma urged residents to remain law-abiding, noting that respect for the law is essential for good governance and sustainable development in all parts of the state.
He stated that the governor has remained committed to initiatives that promote peace and social order, stressing that the administration will continue to support programmes of federal agencies aimed at strengthening security and public safety.
“Our governor is committed to peace, progress and prosperity in Rivers State. I therefore encourage all residents, especially young people who are often targeted by those involved in drug abuse, to stay away from drugs, crime and reckless driving,” he said.
In his remarks, the State NDLEA boss, Dawa, disclosed that the agency has arrested 39 suspects in the state from December 2025 to date, including 16 new cases currently under investigation.
He explained that the NDLEA, through its Drug Demand Reduction and Drug Supply Control Units, has intensified efforts to curb the spread of illicit drugs and ensure offenders are brought to justice.
Dawa also called on parents and guardians to closely monitor their children, while urging hotel owners and managers to remain vigilant and prevent their facilities from being used for drug-related activities.
He further advocated the introduction of drug integrity tests in schools and within the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme as part of measures to discourage drug abuse among young people.
In a related development, Dr Wokoma received the Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), CC Inyang Umoh, during a courtesy visit, and urged residents to abide by road safety laws and drive in consideration of other road users.
In his remarks, the FRSC boss expressed appreciation to Governor Fubara for the continuous support to the Corps.
Muslims in Rivers State have commended Governor Siminialayi Fubara for his dedication and commitment to the development of the state.
They also lauded the governor for promoting peaceful co-existence among various religious groups in the state.
Vice President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs ,Alhaji Nasil Awhelegbe Uhor, gave the commendation last Friday during the Eid-el Fitri prayer to mark the end of Ramadan fasting period, at the Port Harcourt Central Mosque, Niger Street, Port Harcourt.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after the prayer, Alhaji Uhor said Governor Fubara has shown exemplary leadership in the affairs of the state.
Uhor who is the leader of the South South Muslim Ummah of Nigeria, called on Muslims to remain committed to the ideal of peace and fear of the Almighty Allah.
According to the Rivers State Islamic leader, the message is for Muslims to imbibe and allow the lessons of Ramadan to sink into their lives and shape their ways of doing things.
He urged Muslims to imbibe the culture of love and respect for one another.
“My message is that all Muslims should imbibe and allow the lessons of Ramadan to sink with them,” he advised.
Uhor stressed the need for Muslims and all Nigerians to remain patriotic, while avoiding all forms of anti-social behaviours.
He also called on the political leaders to put the country first, stressing that there is no need for Nigerians to continue to wallow in abject poverty when the country is so rich with natural resources.
Also speaking, the Chief Imam of Rivers State, Alhaji Ibrahim S Yalo, urged Muslims to fear God, and speak the truth always.
According to him, time has come for Nigerians to cultivate the habit of peaceful coexistence, speak the truth and be each others keeper.
“Nigerians own a duty to ensure peace, live together in fear of God and speak the truth always,” he said.
By: John Bibor
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