A former assistant general manager in Union Bank of Nigeria Plc. Alhaji Kabir Dangogo has called on the regulators of the Nigerian financial industry to urgently take further preemptive steps towards forestalling a backlash of the ongoing global financial meltdown on the Nigerian economy.

Dangogo who is presently the Chief Executive of Timex Communications, a public relations outfit based in Abuja told Daily Sun at the presentation of Martin Lindstrom’s book, Buyology in Lagos that he expects the leadership and regulators of the Nigerian finanacial sector to carefully scan the system to identify what could possibly go wrong and design an appropriate remedial action for it in view of the interdependence of the global financial market.

According to him such system scanning will help facilitate the implementation of some of the policies that the government had already put in place to stabilize the disequilibrium in the market place.
He pointed out that it may wrong to conclude that the Nigerian market would not be affected by what is happening in the rest of the world, when indeed so much in terms of foreign direct investment has left the country as a result of the huge value erosion at the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
The Timex boss cited the problem facing one of the world’s biggest financial conglomerates, Citibank Group as a good indication that the no institution or country may be spared the ugly consequences of the global crisis.

Citibank which many believe is the strongest bank in the world, only last week headed for crisis, running with caps in hand begging for bailout from the United States Government to enable it stabilize its operations in Europe, Asia and the United States of America, at the end of which an estimated 700,000, jobs would be lost worldwide.
Meanwhile Citibank which operates in the high-end of the financial market in all its jurisdiction has significant presence in Nigeria.

But Dangogo also expressed concern over the effects of a sliding dollar, Pound Sterling and other leading international currencies upon which Nigeria’s economy and international obligations are linked.
Nigerians total foreign reserves currently stands at about $ 63billion, the bulk of which is denominated in the United States dollar and Pound Sterling.
At the moment, petroleum products sales still account for over 90 per cent of the Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings