By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) said it is recovering over N400 billion from debtors of liquidated banks in the country.
Speaking at the 2023 NDIC Workshop for Finance Correspondents in Owerri, Imo State, on Wednesday, the managing director and chief executive of the Corporation, Mr Bello Hassan, said substantial payments have been made to over 40,000 depositors of the banks in liquidation.
Hassan also disclosed that more than N1.6 billion has so far been paid out, adding that the amount paid out would have been more if depositors of the liquidated banks had come forward.
“Those debts or those loans that were granted were granted out of deposits of people that were collected by the banks. So, it is only when those debtors pay back that the NDIC would now be able to pay the depositors of those failed banks.
“With the revision of the 2023 NDIC Act, a lot of powers have been given to the Corporation in order to expedite this process. So, we are hoping to leverage that to ensure that we recover more, so that we can pay those depositors.
“The value of the debt that we are about to recover, if you take into account all the banks in liquidation that is the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), the microfinance banks, the primary mortgage institutions, is well beyond N400 billion, and that is what we are expecting to recover so that we can pay depositors of those banks in liquidation.
“One of the greatest challenges that NDIC is facing, is that of debt recovery; alot of customers of banks in liquidation that borrowed are not willing to repay those debts. And I want to put it on record that those debts, although those loans were granted out of deposits of people that were collected in the banks”.
“Lucky enough, in the revised 2023 NDIC act, a lot of powers have been given to the corporation in other to expedite these process so we are hoping to leverage on that to ensure that we recover more so that we can pay those depositors” .
The Managing Director pleaded with the Federal government and other relevant stakeholders to assist in ensuring speedy recovery of the debts.
“No doubt there’s a regulation in place, the CBN is there , they have regulation and supervision to ensure that banks abide by the laws and regulations and it’s the basis of the licence they have so I believe as we strengthen that process, the risk of failure is going to be reduced to the barest minimum. READ ALSO:
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“Our request to the government is for the government to assist us in making sure that we expedite, if there’s a way we can bring in the stakeholders, the legislature, the Judiciary together so that anytime we take our decisions and cases before the court , cases are given expedited hearing so that justice can be dispensed .
“In all the cases we have taken before the court, what we are trying to prove is that Mr. X has borrowed from the bank and left the court judge that the person is owing and let him pay .The loans that were granted by those banks were out of depositors money not their capital , so it is only when they pay that we will be able to pay those depositors”, he added.
Hassan noted that the desire to strengthen the banks through prudential thresholds and other regulatory instruments, necessitated the corporation’s
collaboration with all relevant stakeholders in the Nigerian financial system, adding that that informed the choice of this year’s FICAN Workshop theme: “Stocktaking of Deposit Insurance Practice: Assessing the
Past, Evaluating the Present and Forecasting the Future”.
