The Nigeria will not be able to attain its vision 2020 expectation of becoming the 20thlargest economy in the globe, so says a top Banker and financial analyst, Dr. Alaba Olusemore.

Speaking on the occasion of the 12th year Anniversary of Nigeria Banking Consolidation held at Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN)Head Office, V.I.Lagos Thursday,Dr. Olusemore who is the CEO of Nesbet Consulting Ltd Said however that Nigeria has derived derived a lot of positives from the banking consolidation, financial systems strategy 2020 and vision 2020.

He therefore urged the powers that be not to relent in their efforts even as the year 2020 is close by the corner, saying a lot can still be done by ensuring that the above policies are followed to the logical conclusion.

In his own contribution, the National Co-ordinator Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN) Mr. Adebisi Adeniyi who represented Sir Sunny Nwosu said Nigeriaeconomically should be better off if the government at all levels sincerely support the private sector. He said because of parochial tendencies on the part of public and private sector leaders most of the policies cannot but have fault lines.

According to him if the Nigerian people are genuinely empowered that Nigeria will achieve its aims of being among the best economies in the world.
However, he pointed out that this can only be achieved with a renewed mind set among the leaders and the followers, maintaining that the people should be the centre of every developmental policies.

A lawyer and public affairs Analyst, Barrister Pat Anyadubalu in his summation pointed that in the issues of financial intermediation that laws bothering on ownership of landed propertiesneeds to be ironed out as that seems to be the main collateral required by banks.

As Nesbet CEO sees it “ Consolidation was a major policy initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria, aimed at making Nigeria banks competitive globally through enhanced capital base.

“Consolidation produced 21 banks out of 89. Today there are 23 commercial banks; 4 merchant banks; one non-interest bank; several microfinance institutions, which replaced the community banks had been established. The primary mortgage sector has also been restructured to provide mortgage finance.

“All of these are now under the direct supervision of the Central Bank of Nigeria and Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation. Part of the CBN directives is that the PMB should concentrate on ‘true’ mortgage financing that will provide long term mortgage loans for residential purposes’.

While three foreign banks, i.e. Barclays Bank Plc, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan have representative offices in Nigeria currently.