Depositors of 48 “failed” banks in Nigeria have received the sum of 90.13 billion Naira (about US$ 600 million) from the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), as at December 2012, the privately-owned GUARDIAN newspaper quoted the NDIC Chief Executive Officer, Alhaji Umar Ibrahim, as saying.
The paper reported on Thursday that the figure represents 11 percent rise over the 80.18 billion Naira paid in 2011.
The NDIC boss, who spoke at the ongoing Kaduna International Trade Fair in Northern Nigeria, added that a total of 2.5 billion Naira (US$ 17 million) had been paid to depositors of the 103 closed Micro Finance Banks (MFBs) last December.
This is against the 2.25 billion naira that was paid to insured depositors of the defunct financial institutions across the country.
“That was not all. A cumulative liquidation dividend payment to shareholders of Alpha Merchant Bank, Nigeria Merchant Bank and Pan African Bank (in-liquidation) stood at 373.04 million Naira, 620.0 million Naira and 293 million Naira respectively during the period. This was in addition to the settlement of all the depositors and creditors of the three banks (liquidation),” Ibrahim was quoted as saying.
Ibrahim, represented at the occasion by another senior NDIC official, Mr. Jacob Afolabi, noted that as part of efforts to sanitise and strengthen the microfinance banks and primary mortgage banks across the nation, the Corporation had revoked the licences of the 103 failed Micro finance Banks and the 25 primary mortgage banks as well as the revision of the micro finance policy.
The NDIC boss stressed that the corporation was not unaware of the perennial problems between customers and banks on various issues, such as bank charges, account balances and frauds.
He said the corporation had established Complaints Units in the Bank Examination Department and the Special Insured Institutions Department to cater for the needs of customers of deposit money banks and primary mortgage banks/micro finance banks across the country.
