On 19 October 2023, the presidency announced
the appointment of Olasupo Olusi as the new managing director and
chief executive officer of the Bank of Industry (BOI).
In that announcement, presidential spokesperson Ajuri Ngelale
said Mr Olusi’s appointment followed the voluntary resignation of his
predecessor, Olukayode Pitan.
Mr Pitan’s sudden departure surprised many clients of his
bank and some players in the nation’s financial sector, especially given that
his second term of five years only began on 27 May 2022. But because Mr Pitan’s
exit happened at a time when President Bola Tinubu was busy ousting appointees
put in place by his predecessor, some people speculated at the time that Mr
Tinubu possibly requested the BOI CEO to voluntarily step down so he (President
Tinubu) could put his own man in that position.
There was no official disclosure or media report of any other
undercurrents that triggered Mr Pitan’s resignation.
But more than three months after that episode, PREMIUM TIMES
can now, for the first time, report the circumstances that led to Mr Pitan’s
departure from the nation’s oldest, largest and most successful development
financing institution.
Our findings indicate that the drama culminating in the
banker’s exit from the bank began suddenly and unfolded quickly.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had, around the
period, received intelligence alleging mismanagement of public funds by the
leadership of BOI, then led by Mr Pitan. After days of discreet investigations,
EFCC operatives moved against Mr Pitan on 16 October 2023. That day, he was
arrested in Lagos and flown to Abuja, where he was interrogated and detained.
The banker remained in detention until 18 October, when the
anti-graft agency granted him administrative bail. The following day, 19
October, the presidency announced Mr Pitan was resigning and that he was being
replaced by Mr Olusi, a former World Bank economist and development finance
expert.
Neither the government nor Mr Pitan disclosed that some
transactions during the banker’s leadership at the 60-year-old real sector
lender were being scrutinised by the EFCC and that, on that account, he had
either offered to resign or compelled to do so. In the press statement
announcing his resignation and appointment of a replacement, Mr Pitan was not
accused of any wrongdoing.
More than three months after Mr Pitan was released on bail,
no charges have been brought against him, and the EFCC appears reluctant to
disclose details of the financial matters for which he is being investigated.
When contacted Tuesday, Dele Oyewale, the head of media and publicity at the
anti-corruption agency, promised to run a check and revert to this reporter on
the case status. He has yet to do so as of the time of filing this report. He
also has yet to respond to subsequent calls and text messages sent to him.
However, those familiar with the matter said that while in
detention, Mr Pitan was questioned over BOI’s handling of a $750 million loan
the bank got in 2018 from foreign banks to support small and medium-sized
businesses across the country.
The loan was arranged by the African Export-Import Bank
(Afreximbank) and sourced from a syndicate of 16 lenders, including Afreximbank
itself, the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, British Arab Commercial
Bank Plc and four Nigerian banks based in the UK. The facility was granted at a
single-digit interest rate for five to seven years.
The loan was arranged to enable the BOI to bridge the funding
gap for MSMEs, estimated at N700 billion, Mr Pitan told journalists during
Afreximbank’s 25th Anniversary and annual general meeting in Abuja in 2018. He
also said the facility was meant for companies operating in the creative
industry, manufacturing and gender-based businesses to help reduce the
unemployment rate in the country and create wealth for small and medium-scale
entrepreneurs. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) guaranteed the loan, which was
disbursed to beneficiaries through commercial banks.
]This publication learned that the EFCC is now scrutinising
the handling and disbursement of the loan following allegations of sharp
practices by some whistleblowers. The informants, our sources said, claimed that
rather than promptly disburse the fund to beneficiaries, some BOI officials
initially placed it in fixed deposit accounts and earned returns before passing
it to the CBN on maturity.
Our sources said about 130 private accounts linked to the
matter were being investigated. At the same time, Mr Pitan was also questioned
about the source of a certain N211 million traced to his Guaranty Trust Bank
(GTB) account.
When PREMIUM TIMES contacted Mr Pitan this week, the banker
declined to provide details of his encounter with the EFCC and the issues that
led to his arrest and detention. He, however, denied any wrongdoing in handling
the $750 million loan. “All foreign proceeds into BOI are transferred to CBN,”
he said. “The proceeds of the $750 million were paid into CBN in full. CBN has
repaid Afreximbank in full as the loan has expired.”
When asked to respond to concerns on the loan management
under his watch, Mr Pitan said, “I want you to know I will never engage in the
type of activities false information peddlers who don’t mean well for me and
the bank are feeding you.”
In response to a question about a particular N211 million in
his account, the top banker said he was “a senior member of staff and eligible
to various facilities including mortgage loan etc.”
BOI’s Head of Corporate Communications, Hadiza Olaosebikan,
declined to comment for this story when contacted by PREMIUM TIMES. “I’m sorry
I can’t answer any questions,” she said by telephone.
However, an official of the bank, who asked not to be named
because he is not a spokesperson for the organisation, told this reporter that
the $750 million loan was not mishandled in any way. “What happened was that
when Tinubu came, his people wanted to remove Pitan from office at all costs
and put their own man there,” he said. “So they came up with that allegation
and got the EFCC to harass Pitan out of office. The man was forced to resign
which is unfortunate.”
But Mr Pitan said he was not forced to step down. “Mr Pitan
resigned voluntarily from BOI,” he told this reporter. “His letter of
resignation was accepted. The official communication from FGN confirmed that.”
The man Pitan Olukayode
Mr Pitan was appointed managing director of BOI in May 2017 by former Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo, who acted as Nigeria’s president when then-President
Muhammadu Buhari vacationed in the UK. Mr Buhari reappointed him in March 2022
to serve a second tenure of five years.
Mr Pitan is an ordained pastor at the Redeemed Christian
Church of God (RCCG), in charge of Region 51 (Tabernacle of David) of the
church, headquartered in Ajah, Lagos.
During a banking career spanning over 30 years, he was an
executive director at Unity Bank and an executive director at FSB International
Bank Plc.
He was also chairperson of the Association of Nigerian
Development Finance Institutions and the director representing West Africa on
the Board of the Association of African Development Finance Institutions.
– Source: PREMIUM TIMES
