The Federal Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Office of Accountant General of the Federation and some other agencies of the federal government yesterday expressed their support to the House of Representatives probe of unclaimed funds in commercial banks as well as unremitted funds collected on behalf of the federal government agencies by the banks.
The lawmakers at plenary on January 26, had set up an ad hoc committee, chaired by Hon. Idem Unyime, to look into the issue which financial experts had posited ran into trillions of naira.
Lending support at the hearing, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, said the CBN issued on October 2015, provides guidelines that obligate any bank to have notified the federal government of the existence of any such funds belonging to it.
Represented by the Director General Budget Office, Ben Akabueze, the minister urged the CBN to ensure it enforces its own guidelines.
Ahmed said: “From the opening remarks of the committee Chairman, it will appear that this is focused on unearthing the federal government’s balances that may still be hanging in any of the commercial banks. I believe that over the past several years there have been circulars of government seeking to enforce this.
“Because otherwise when we received this invitation that talked about unclaimed funds in Nigeria commercial banks, basically my initial reading of this is that it’s related to inactive accounts, dormant accounts, because the extant regulation guiding the management of these issued by the CBN, on October 2015, provides guidelines for the management of inactive accounts dormant accounts and unclaimed funds.
“Those guidelines obligate any bank to have notified the Federal government of the existence of any such funds belonging to it, if they had I’m sure that those funds will not be there.
“I hope that without prejudice to the work of this committee that the CBN will also do the job of enforcing its own guidelines. As the work of the committee progresses, whatever other specific information required of us as a ministry we will be able to provide.”
On its part, the CBN, represented by its Acting Director, Banking Supervision, Okafor Maxwell, assured that the apex bank would comply fully to ensure the investigation yields the needed results.
He said: “We are not too clear about the requirements of the committee, but the speech of the Chairman made a lot of things very clear. We want to assure that the CBN will cooperate fully to ensure that this job is done. We are going to help the committee follow up whatever necessary to ensure that this job is done.”
Also, the representative of Office of Accountant General of the Federation, Sylva Okorieaboh agreed that substantial amount of federal government funds might still be lying with commercial banks despite the presidential directive of August 7, 2015, and the circulars and efforts made to compel the commercial banks to comply with those directives.
Okorieaboh, who is the Director, Coordinator Treasury Single Account (TSA), added that if any bank or MDAs were not doing what they were supposed to, then it’s clearly an infraction and the work of the lawmakers will help to unravel anything of that such.
He said, “the letter we got was not detailed enough to prepare us for today’s sitting, however we are aware that there’s good likelihood that substantial amount of federal government’s funds might still be lying with commercial banks despite the presidential directive of August 7, 2015, and the circulars and efforts made to compel the commercial banks to comply with those directives.
“On the 14th of December 2021, the minister of finance inaugurated new TSA implementation structures and she alluded to the fact that there’s a likelihood that substantial amount that federal government funds are still lying with commercial banks and directed the banks to return those funds or they will be reported to anti-corruption agencies.”
In his presentation, Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Chudi Ofordile, lending support to the lawmakers’ work, noted that some banks were yet to comply with the directive of the government that all funds should be transferred to TSA.
He expressed optimism that the investigation would help the agencies recover some of their funds from those who have not been able to identify them, adding that they have clear evidence where those funds are and who is in the custody.
Earlier in his remarks, the Committee Chairman, Hon. Unyime said the assignment was enormous, crucial and sensitive given what the country was facing economically.
He noted that 45 million bank accounts had not been linked to Bank Verification Number (BVN) hence the resolutions stipulated that commercial banks, submit document that would help the lawmakers recover the unclaimed funds.
While charging all stakeholders to be cooperative, he warned that commercial banks and other agencies sitting on the funds that belong to the federal government and were not willing to refund, would be suspended from collecting funds for the government.
Declaring the hearing open, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila expressed optimism that the assignment would improve the system in terms of value addition.
Gbajabiamila who was represented by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Idris Wase, said that if it was true that N1.2 trillion was not paid into consolidated revenue account, then members of the Committee should ensure they expose the corruption aspect of it and come out with interventions that would improve and mitigate the situation.
