The Nigerian
Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) said it has paid more than N100 billion to
depositors of liquidated Deposit Money Banks in the country till date.
Besides, the
corporation revealed that it deployed all legal means to recover loans of
failed banks, sale of assets and ensure transparent distribution of the
liquidation dividend among the uninsured depositors.
The payments,
according to the safety net institution, are not done in secret, as it has been
publishing them in newspapers, radio and television whenever insured deposits
and uninsured deposits were due for payment.
The Managing
Director of NDIC, Alhaji Umar Ibrahim, who made the disclosure at the
corporation’s Day at the just concluded Lagos International Trade Fair, said
the institution has redoubled its efforts by providing an enabling regulatory
and supervisory environment that ensures small savers are protected.
Represented
by the Director, Claims Resolution Department, A. S. Bello, he said: “We
implore those depositors who have not responded to our calls to come forward to
collect their insured deposits and liquidation dividends already declared for
uninsured deposits to do so.”
The NDIC
chief however, reiterated his warnings against patronising those he described
as “dubious fund managers”, adding that the promises of unrealistically high
returns sometimes lead to disastrous consequences to the assets of their
victims and their lives too.
“The
emerging trend of investing in digital currencies popularly known as Bitcoins
is equally dangerous because just like the ‘Wonder Banks,’ the digital
currencies are not licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria and therefore not
insured by NDIC.
“The protection
of the depositor remains our top priority. That is why we continue to stress
the need for depositors to patronise only financial institutions that are
licensed by the CBN and which display the NDIC sticker with the words ‘insured
by NDIC’ in their banking halls or entrances,” he said.
He explained
that NDIC would continue to be at the forefront of driving the key objectives
of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) to reduce the percentage of
adult Nigerians that do not have access to financial services, as a way to meet
the 20 per cent exclusion rate by 2020.
“To this
end, the corporation has redoubled is efforts by providing an enabling
regulatory and supervisory environment that ensures that the hard earned
savings of small savers are protected.
“This is
very vital to financial inclusion because the poor people need assurance that
the licensed deposit taking institutions are safe and that they have access to
their money whenever they need it,” he added.
Guardian Nigeria
0 Comments