By Gozie Irogboli
The news of the appointment of the Nigeria billionaire banker, Jim Ovia as the chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has elicited reactions from many Nigerians. Concerned observers have tried to proffer explanations about the motive behind what is considered by many as bizarre appointment. The Jim Ovia that everybody knows will not touch government appointment with a long pole. The foremost Nigerian banker and corporate icon does not lobby nor need government appointment.
It is therefore strange to many that he could condescend to accepting an appointment under Tinubu having rejected such offers in the past. The main questions on the lips of the concerned observers include: why would he want to make a volte-face this time? Why would he want to smear his impeccable reputation by associating with a regime battling with credibility issues?
Mr. Jim Ovia, a banker, a business mogul and an investor is the founder and chairman of Zenith International Bank, one of the key players in the Nigerian financial sector. He has a reputation for promoting excellence and meritocracy. A stickler for rules; he believes strongly in the values of honesty and integrity.
Those close to him say that he has the personality type that is averse to adverse publicity and scandal and would do anything to avoid them. Thus, it might sound odd for him to consort with politicians, save for business purposes, let alone accepting a political appointment. It is said that Jim may not punish his employees for not making profit but must punished anyone involved in fraud or anything that will tarnish the reputation of the bank. He abhors anything that has to do with scandal including litigation.
As much as possible, he avoids litigation. It is believed that one of the reasons he invested heavily in technology and people is to ensure quality customer service to reduce reputational risk. And it is on record that the Jim Ovia’s Zenith bank has the least cases of litigation and fraud among the banks in Nigeria.
It is not exactly clear why Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has to pick on Jim Ovia. According to the official statement, the chairman of Zenith Bank was appointed NELFUND board chairman ostensibly for him “to bring his immense wealth of experience and professional stature to this role.” But the question is: does one require the skill of a banker to manage the said student loan funds? Is NELFUND a financial institution? Does the role of NELFUND involve financial intermediation? Of course the management of the student loan board may not involve investment analysis or risk assessment analysis.
The job is purely administrative and procedural. A retired school bursar or school teacher with even a background in History or Religious Studies can manage the said funds without stress. People as making conjectures about this, more so, as Tinubu is not known for appointing people based on merit or competence. His major consideration for appointment is loyalty rather than performance. Clearly, if Tinubu is interested in results, he would have given Mr. Ovia the Central Bank or the Finance Ministry, where his competence will be better deployed, rather than student loan board, to manage.
Expectedly, many have wondered why the banking guru has to identify with the Tinubu’s government. Are his multi-billion investments in Lagos under threat? Is he using the appointment as a means to secure the release of his protégé, Emefiele, the erstwhile Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor who is currently being hounded by Tinubu’s government for implementing a cash swap policy prior to the February, 2023 general elections; a policy interpreted by Tinubu and his group as an attempt to frustrate his presidential ambition? Or is he using the appointment as a way to dissociate himself from the alleged offenses committed by Emefiele when he held sway as the CBN governor? Whatever the reason, I sincerely hope that Jim Ovia is not being blackmailed or arm-twisted into accepting appointment from Tinubu against his will.
Without doubt, the presence of Jim Ovia among Tinubu’s men would be a big image boost for a government that is encumbered with a heavy legitimacy and credibility burden. Indeed, the government propagandists would brag about it, and as usual, drop Jim Ovia’s name among those allegedly made by Tinubu. To them, anyone who has government appointment is made by the one that appointed him. This is because they erroneously think that government appointment is not about service but an opportunity for self-enrichment.
Tinubu is a maker of men but ironically, the state that he claimed he built has the worst number of area-boys and street urchins in the southern part of the country. He could not train or rehabilitate the horde of Lagos area-boys and yet he is a maker and developer of men. Lagos has more destitute and out school children and it is still educationally disadvantaged despite the huge revenue inflow. How many schools did he build while he “reigned” in Lagos? How many skill acquisition centers did he establish in his Lagos? Lagos State has one of the worst literacy cases in the whole of Southern Nigeria? So who did he make?
I am one of the many Nigerians that are skeptical about the Tinubu’s proposed student loan scheme. To me, the program is a misplaced priority and a white elephant. Nigeria needs investments in education but not in populist white elephants. In the colonial era and in the immediate post independent era, when Nigeria had acute man power shortages, such program would be effective and necessary and not now that Nigeria has surfeit of university graduates roaming the streets looking for non-existent jobs.
Nigeria needs investment in the educational sector but not in the bogus loan scheme program. The investment we need in education should be in the area of technology, human development and provision of environment suitable for learning in addition to result-oriented curriculum development. Nigeria operates outmoded, wishy-washy curriculum that tends to produce helpless, dependent jobseekers. Nigeria needs the curriculum that will produce entrepreneurs; that help learners develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Investment in mass education should be at the primary and high school level in order to reduce the number of out of school children and should be targeted mainly at the alimajiris and the area-boys of the North and Southwest respectively. But the APC government would not invest in this area for obvious reason. It would mean educating, liberating and depleting their army of political tools needed for election rigging. The previous investments in this area by the Babangida regime through the nomadic education scheme and Jonathan Administration through the Alimajiri School program were frustrated by the forces opposed to liberating these street urchins from bondage.
Secondly, the student loan scheme may be seen as a vehicle for the political “settlement” and might be hijacked by politicians to siphon public funds by granting loans to their cronies, stooges and ghost students. That is why many believed that the program may turn out to be a camouflaged conduit pipe for public funds and may never get to the indigent students and those that it is intended. Tinubu’s propagandists may defend the appointment of Jim Ovia by claiming that it is the importance the president attached to the program that informed his decision to engage the person of his caliber to manage the funds. But it left to be seen if that is the case.
Certainly, the Nigerian students do not need the spurious loan scheme that might not be accessible after all. What they need is quality education. They need the right technologies, the facilities and the conducive environment that will promote learning; that will make them graduate when they should, not a compromised system that will make them spend five or more years for a four-year course. The Nigeria youth need an effective man power development program that will support and equip them with the relevant skills for the future not area-boy policies that will mortgage their future. They require a robust economy that will empower their parents and sponsors to fund their programs. They don’t forbid a healthy economy that will promote work-study program as it is done in other countries. What they don’t need is Tinubu’s prebendal economy where some live on hand-outs and freebies in the name of palliatives. Nobody wants Tinubu’s poverty and hunger expansion program that has subjected the citizens to a life of misery.
It is therefore worrisome that the great Jim Ovia would accept an appointment into an agency that is susceptible to becoming a cesspool of corruption. And it is doubtful if he would come out of it without smearing his hard earned reputation except he resigns promptly.
Gozie Irogboli,
An economist, a novelist and a public policy analyst
(goziei@yahoo.com)
