NDIC seeks N/Assembly’s assistance on failed banks’ debtors

Gbola Subair, Abuja - 07.02.2008

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has sought the assistance of National Assembly on debtor politicians.

NDIC Managing Director, Mr. Ganiyu Ogunleye, made the call in Abuja while receiving members of the House Committee on Banking and Currency who were on courtesy visit to the corporation.

Mr. Ogunleye, who disclosed that prominent debtors of failed banks were the politically connected people, urged the members of the committee to persuade the debtors who were in the National Assembly to pay debts owed the failed banks.

He said if the members of the banking committee prevailed on them to pay, they would pay their debts. The NDIC boss stated that the corporation was proactive in the discharge of its mandate, saying if this was not so, the occasional dissolution of boards and managements of erring banks would not have been.

“We do not wait until banks are sick, we prevent such sickness by carrying out the routine checks on banks,” he said. On the activities of NDIC, he said the corporation had obtained winding-up orders for 11 out of the 14 banks that failed post consolidation.

Mr. Ogunleye said the private deposits of 10 out of the 11 banks had been resolved through the purchase and assumption mechanism while the 11th banks was currently on offer for binding by the 24 universal banks.

He said the 10 banks acquired accounted for N71.7 billion out of the N73.4 billion deposit liabilities of 11 banks.