…says 45.85 million accounts not linked to BVN
The House of Representatives on Wednesday set up an advocacy committee to investigate to investigate several billions of government funds trapped in commercial banks across the country as well as suspicious and unclaimed funds on commercial banks.
The Committee is also to the unremitted funds collected on behalf of Agencies and Departments of the Federal Government by Commercial Banks, while also looking into several infractions by the Central Bank of Nigeria against
the provisions of the enabling Laws in the area of intervention projects and programs.
The House resolution followed a motion on notice by Rep Dachung Bagos (PDP, Plateau) on the need to investigate unclaimed funds in commercial banks in the country and the infractions by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The lawmaker indicted the Central Bank for failure to fully implement the BVN policy, adding that several Nigerians still operate their account without the BVN.
Bagos recalled that Bank Verification Number (BVN) was introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2014 to the Nigerian banking system as a way of checking and combating money laundering, illicit financing and duplicitous ownership of bank accounts used for fraud.
He said about seven years after the introduction of the BVN into Nigeria banking system, about 45.85 million bank accounts across Nigeria are yet to be linked to BVNs.
He said data released by the Nigerian Inter–Bank Settlement Systems (NIBSS) on June 23, 2021, disclosed that the total number of bank accounts in Nigeria as of May 2019 is pegged at 122.071 million and the active accounts as of May, 2020 stood at 72.936 million.
According to him, financial experts have held the position that there exist suspicious bank deposits detected after Nigeria adopts the Bank Verification Number running into Trillions of Naira left unclaimed in Nigerian banks because their owners had failed to register a BVN or link to existing ones where appropriate.
He stressed that the commercial banks in Nigeria have adamantly disobeyed and continue to hold on to the monies out of failed transactions more than necessary, against the directives of the Central Bank of Nigeria and to the
detriment of Nigerians.
He said further that despite the introduction of BVN by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to curb the menace in the financial sectors, about 71 million customers still use their accounts without the compulsory identification, per data from the Nigerian Inter–Bank Settlement Systems (NIBSS).
He maintained that the lack of legal regulatory framework and political will to deal with the unclaimed assets especially funds abandoned and trapped in commercial banks will continue to put Nigeria behind so many countries in the world that have developed the legal framework to deal with these assets.
He expressed concern about recent disclosure about N1.2 trillion collected by Commercial Banks on behalf of some key Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government have not been remitted Federation’s account since 2016, as required by law.
He alleged some commercial banks in the country have refused to remit to the Government, fees and levies collected on behalf of Government agencies and Departments in the last 10 years.
He maintained that although the Central Bank of Nigeria has the statutory responsibility of regulating commercial banks in the country, they have failed in their responsibilities to carry out the necessary oversight on the commercial banks.
Also disturbed that the Central Bank of Nigeria has not been transparent in the implementation of its intervention programs and projects, and have shown an almost zero level of accountability and transparency before the National Assembly in respect of funds generated both locally and internationally.