A former governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, has accused banks of being contributors to the destruction of the Nigerian economy.

The cost of living in Nigeria has hit the rooftop owing largely to the floating of the naira and the removal of fuel subsidy.

While many have accused banks of complicity in Nigeria’s troubled economy, Yuguda is corroborating their claims, accusing the financial institutions of profiteering.

“From my own experience banking industry in the year 2000 to [before I] joined the cabinet of Chief Obasanjo. So, my experience then, banks have really contributed in no small way in destroying the economy of Nigeria because, for some of our colleagues, it is not about Nigeria,” he said on Thursday’s edition of Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.

“How can they use their institution to make money and live outside Nigeria with their families and then continue milking Nigeria through the banks?” Yuguda queried.

Banks have come under attack in the face of the recent economic hardship that has hit the country, with many pointing accusing fingers at them over the free fall of the naira.

Yuguda has backed the claims and further alleged that the banks engage in illegal transactions that even the regulators find difficult to unravel.

“There are so many ways to make illegal transactions that even the regulators will hardly notice it but financing of the real sector. If you look at the balance sheet of banks, the real sector financing, maybe it is just paper intrigues, if you do a forensic audit, you will discover that they just want to satisfy the regulators.

“They are basically trading in money, trading in FX, almost all the banks and that is why I am happy that the central bank governor has taken a position to say all those open positions where bank CEOs amass dollars in their balance sheets to the extent that they deny the markets dollars. I must say that banks must be professional,” the former minister said.

Yuguda also claimed that the central bank printed money to finance consumption, and recurrent expenditure, saying that it is not done anywhere in the world. He accused the economy managers of being careless to have done that.

With prices of commodities on a steady increase, many Nigerians have in the last few weeks taken to the streets in some states to protest the harsh living conditions occasioned by the removal of petrol subsidy, and the forex crisis, amongst others.

The protests have occurred in Ogun, Oyo, Kano, Niger, and some parts of the country and many fear that it may escalate if the situation is not brought under control by the government.