Daily Independent (Lagos)
Aaron Ukodie and Kingsley Ighomwenghian
9 June 2009
Lagos — Seven years after they were fired, there is excitement among Savannah Bank staff who converged on Lagos at the weekend for its reopening today by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).
Expectedly, the Lagos residence of Samson Ndubuisi Onwubiko, the Managing Director and Chief Executive of Savannah between October 2001 and February 2002, is the rallying point.
Many of the elated staff, including those now employed by other organisations at home and abroad, are willing to return.
Some have shown interest online through the bank's newly opened website, while they keep in touch with one another.
Peter Aseme, the bank's branch Manager in Benin until the licence was revoked, is said to have arrived Lagos.
Another old employee who now works in a bank in Boston in the United States, telephoned to express her willingness to return to Nigeria to join the revival of Savannah.
It was learnt that Onwubiko, who was the plaintiff witness (PW1) at the bank's trial, is set to return to his job.
He joined the bank as Chief Inspector in 2000, before becoming Chief Executive, and is said to have refused to take another job as part of his commitment to the cause, which the bank fought to a victorious end.
The handover by the NDIC comes almost four months after the restoration of the licence by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), following the Appeal Court judgment of February 5 in favour of Savannah.
The event is slated for the bank's Broad Street head office, opposite Tinubu Square in Lagos. This would be followed by a phased reopening of its 108 branches across the country.
A meeting was held in April in Abuja between the NDIC and owners of the bank, led by Jim Nwobodo, former Governor of old Anambra State, to discuss the status report and the activities undertaken since the revocation of the licence.
The owners have also assured the regulators of the bank's readiness to meet the N25 billion capital base, in collaboration with foreign investors who were represented at the meeting by one Ahmed Jelani.
NDIC Chief Executive, Ganiyu Ogunleye, told the Savannah team that issues covered by the report include the closing activities, cash evacuation, expenses incurred, and protection of assets.
He said Akintola Williams Deloitte is auditing the receipts and payment statement by the NDIC, just as he expressed the corporation's interest in jointly paying visits to the bank's branches.
Ogunleye urged the bank to deploy a comprehensive strategy that would restore the confidence of depositors, especially those unable to access their funds during the years in limbo.
He added: "In this regard, your immediate challenge would be how best to handle the pent-up demand of depositors.
"Furthermore, you would need to develop innovative market penetration strategies as the financial market has witnessed a remarkable transformation since your bank went out of business.
"Robust liquidity management programme is a major imperative for the bank's resumption of business."
Nwobodo pledged that Savannah will "observe the rules of the banking sector," and implored the NDIC to co-operate to achieve its purpose.
He also sought assistance from the regulators.
"The first step is what we have come to do here today and I thank (Ogunleye) who has said that they are anxious for us to take over.
"So, the first thing for us will be to do this joint verification exercise of all the 108 branches of the bank and re-feed it from where we left the bank. Then the issue of recapitalisation will become important."
Nwobodo reportedly said that Savannah has opened discussions with First Inland Bank on the possibility of an alliance or merger.
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