Usually it’s scammers based in Nigeria, or at least claiming to be Nigerian, who try to fleece others of their money by claiming to have untold riches available, for a small or moderate fee.

Now it seems, someone may have been fleecing some of Nigeria’s biggest banks, pushing the country’s financial system to the edge of collapse.

Nigeria’s financial and banking system has joined the crunch in a rather large, spectacular way, a victim of claimed insider dealing, poor lending and bad management that allowed a bubble to develop in the local stockmarket and property.

According to media reports, the central bank has taken control of five of the country’s biggest banks and fired the CEOs of each of them and a special police unit has detained at least two for questioning.

Now the central bank has published a list of the biggest debtors of the quintet who owe an estimated $US4.71 billion. According to the Financial Times, among them are two of the country’s wealthiest business people.

According to the Central Bank of Nigeria, the debtors have to repay their debts now, or face legal action. Here’s the statement on the central bank website and the list of debtors, in the local currency called naira.

The central bank is also pumping around $US2.7 billion into Afribank Nigeria, Intercontinental Bank, Oceanic Bank International, Union Bank Nigeria and Finbank to help stabilise them and rebuild their capital.

The Nigerian Government has ordered ministries and departments not to withdraw their funds from the affected institutions as they remain safe following the intervention of the central bank.

“Wednesday’s list features Aliko Dangote, perhaps Africa’s richest man, whose fortune, amassed from an empire including sugar, cement, oil and gas, was estimated by Forbes last year at $3.3bn. Also identified is Peter Odili, former governor of Rivers state in the Niger delta, source of Nigeria’s oil wealth,” the FT reported.

Up till now the Irish banking system was the one most seriously compromised by poor lending, insider dealing and poor governance, plus the strong hint of ‘mates rates’. Now Nigeria could top that.

And there’s actually a whiff of Australia in what’s happening in Nigeria.

In the recession of the early 1990s our banks were almost taken down by the likes of Alan Bond, Robert Holmes A’Court, the Rothwells disaster and Laurie Connell, John Elliott and the Melbourne push, plus a string of stretched Kiwi business who came and collapsed. Property imploded and Westpac was rescued and the ANZ teetered.