Kayode Pitan, the former managing director and CEO of the Bank of Industry (BOI), has left the banking institution. Recall that on October 19, 2023, the presidency announced the selection of Olasupo Olusi as the bank’s new managing director and CEO. In that announcement, presidential spokesperson Ajuri Ngelale stated that Mr Olusi’s appointment followed Pitan’s voluntary departure....CONTINUE READING
Mr Pitan’s abrupt retirement stunned many of his bank’s clients and some actors in the country’s financial sector, especially since his second five-year tenure began on May 27, 2022. However, because Mr Pitan’s departure occurred at a time when President Bola Tinubu was busy ousting appointees installed by his predecessor, some speculated that Mr Tinubu may have asked the BOI CEO to voluntarily step down so that he (President Tinubu) could place 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 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.
