Banks jittery over N1trn funds of dead Nigerians

PALPABLE fears have gripped banks over the resolution of the House of Representatives to probe the inability of relatives of deceased Nigerians to access the funds of their departed loved ones, put at between N400 billion and N1 trillion.

A top bank executive who pleaded anonymity confirmed to Nigerian Tribune last week at a venue of the bank’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos, that if such probe come to effect, none of the banks would be exonerated.

Though he put the blame on the nation’s legal system, he, however, admitted that banks have not done well to simplify the process.

In his comment, an ex-banker now Managing Director, Twinsronk Consulting, Okechukwu Amadi, said the probe will expose banks a great deal, stating that the amount put forward by the sponsor of the motion was conservative.

While calling for holistic probe, the former banker regretted that the probe might not see the light of day as banks would do all it takes to frustrate the process.

“This is definitely a good move. But I wonder if the banks will not frustrate the process. The lawmakers should ensure the probe is carried out to save many Nigerians from the agony of recovering the funds of dead relatives,” he said.

It is recalled that the House of Representatives last week passed a resolution to probe delays usually encountered by relatives of deceased Nigerians while attempting to have access to the funds of their departed ones.

The Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, directed the Committees on Judiciary, Justice and Banking to convene a stakeholders’ meeting to find a way out of the situation which is believed to be very common.

The sponsor of the motion, Abiodun Abudu-Balogun, said there was the need to stop the pains and trauma beneficiaries of such funds usually go through in their efforts to access their funds.

He said while the process of obtaining letters of administration by such bereaved families at probate divisions of state and federal high courts was very cumbersome and corruption-ridden, banks that were custodians of the funds often use both official and unofficial hurdles to frustrate beneficiaries.

Abudu-Balogun stated that unofficial statistics put the figures of such unaccessed funds with banks at between N400 billion and N1 trillion, adding that obtaining a single letter of administration usually lasted over a year.

All the members that commented on the bill agreed that there was the need to address the issue because of the harrowing experiences such beneficiaries go through and in most cases, unable to access the fund, describing it as unfortunate that family members whose lives had been made miserable by death of their bread winners would be subjected to more pains by these undue bottlenecks.
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