CBN Sacks Skye Bank Board, appoints Tokunbo Abiru as CEO

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday sacked the Board of Directors and management team of troubled listed commercial lender, Skye Bank.

The CBN immediately announced the appointment of Mr Tokunbo Abiru, a former executive director at First Bank Nigeria as the new CEO of the Bank.

CBN disclosed this in Lagos at a press briefing where the apex bank announced the appointment of Mr Muhammad Ahmad, a former Central Bank official, a former head of the Pension Commission and former Chairman of First Bank Nigeria as the new Chairman of the distressed Bank.

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer also resigned, while four non-executive directors were retained.

The financial regulator says, however that Skye Bank is not distressed but has fallen below the regulated capital adequacy ratio.

On Monday, Skye Bank shares fell 9.52 per cent to 95 kobo as investors sold almost 11 million shares of the lender whose 2015 financial statements are yet to be released to the market.

In a related development, the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, appealed to Nigeria youths to channel their energies towards the production of goods and services locally.

Emefiele, who kicked start the pilot phase of the Youths Entrepreneurship Programme in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

As over 1,000 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) are expected to benefit from the scheme, he said the programme would reduce the pressure on the nation’s foreign exchange.

The CBN Governor noted that the National Bureau of Statistics put the recent unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2016 at 42 per cent.

He expressed optimism that reverse could be the case if more youths gain financing that would help boost their businesses.