NDIC faults woman’s claims over N222m trapped in bank

Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation has responded to a petition by a customer of the defunct Fortis Microfinance Bank, Mrs Uju Ohanenye, who alleged that the corporation’s negligence made her N222.4m to be trapped in the microfinance bank.

The corporation dismissed the accusation that it was negligent, adding that it intervened when it needed to and that efforts were ongoing to realise the failed bank’s residual assets to enable it to pay depositors with funds in excess of the insured limits.

On August 9, in a story titled, ‘Businesswoman battles NDIC over N222m allegedly trapped in bank’ the media had reported that Ohanenye petitioned the NDIC and copied the Presidency, Department of State Services and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on August 3, 2020.

She said her N222.4m, being the balance of the N301m she lodged in the failed microfinance bank, was still trapped as she also alleged that the NDIC failed to alert the public to the mismanagement of depositors’ funds by the bank.

This, she said, prevented her from providing the money needed for the treatment of her husband, who was suffering from heart disease, adding that the trapped money had also impacted negatively on her charity. She therefore accused the NDIC of negligence, saying the corporation allowed the bank to defraud its customers.

But NDIC in a statement, titled, ‘Misleading report on the N222.4m belonging to a depositor of Fortis Microfinance Bank (in liquidation)’ signed by its Director, Communication and Public Affairs, Dr Sunday Oluyemi, said contrary to Ohanenye’s claim of negligence, the NDIC and the Central Bank of Nigeria intervened.

The statement partly read, “As the fortunes of Fortis MFB Plc began to decline due to mismanagement and abysmal corporate governance practices, the CBN, in collaboration with the NDIC, took several actions to address its deteriorated financial condition.

“The intervention of regulatory agencies in the resolution of the defunct Fortis MFB was in two phases. The first phase involved corrective and supervisory measures which eventually included the sacking of the Executive Management, dissolving the Board of Directors and the appointment of a joint CBN/NDIC Interim Management Committee (IMC) to temporarily manage the affairs of the MFB.

“One of the reasons for the setting up of the IMC, among others, was the need to protect the interests of the depositors, including Mrs. Ohanenye. The second phase involved the revocation of the operating licence of Fortis MFB by the CBN and its subsequent liquidation by the NDIC.”

The statement said when Ohanenye approached the IMC, she was paid N74,703,867.65, in two tranches. It said the first N18m was for the treatment of her husband and N56.7m was from the N2bn the CBN approved for the IMC to ease the hardship experienced by depositors.

It said when the bank’s operating licence was withdrawn in 2018, the NDIC paid the insured sums up to the maximum limit, which is N200,000 for microfinance banks and N500,000 for commercial banks, and that Ohanenye got N200,000 she was entitled to.