Abuja, 19 Aug-(ANA)-The Nigerian central bank has threatened legal action against defaulting customers of five banks rescued in a $2.6bn (£1.58bn) bailout.
The central bank published a list of more than 200 customers, including companies and state governments.
Nigerian police have arrested four of the banks' chief executives after all five were sacked last week.
The bosses are being questioned over the bad loans taken on by their banks which totalled $7.6bn.
The regulator has argued that weak governance left the banks so undercapitalised that they posed a threat to the banking system in Nigeria.
The five banks concerned are Afribank, Finbank, Intercontinental Bank, Oceanic Bank and Union Bank.
The defaulting customers include corporations like Transcorp and fuel distributor African Petroleum, as well as the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and state governments of Delta and Ebonyi.
Billionaire tycoon Aliko Dangote, listed as the world's richest African by Forbes magazine last year, has a loan worth $15m with Oceanic Bank, the central bank said.
Mr Dangote was recently unanimously elected president of the Nigeria Stock Exchange. His companies control trade in many of Nigeria's commodities, including rice, salt and sugar, textiles and vegetable oil.
Mr Lamido Sanusi took over as head of the central bank over two months ago, pledging to clean up the banking system that has fuelled growth in Nigeria.
The unprecedented action against the banks has sent the Nigerian currency, the naira, lower but also raised hopes that the Nigerian financial system may finally be reformed. (ANA)
UK/Coffee