The House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Unclaimed Funds in Nigerian Commercial Banks and Offenses by the Central Bank of Nigeria has opened an inquiry into funds blocked in commercial banks due to the alleged failure to link the account holding the funds has a bank verification number and the Federal Government Treasury Single Account Policy.
The committee is probing in particular the more than 45 million accounts that hold funds amounting to more than N1.2.
The Chamber had, on January 26, 2022, decided to set up the commission to investigate the “suspicious and unclaimed funds” sitting on various accounts.
The House had mandated the committee to also investigate unremitted funds collected on behalf of federal government departments, departments and agencies by the banks.
The House had further mandated the committee to investigate the “several alleged breaches by the Central Bank of Nigeria against the provisions of the Act and Enabling Acts of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the good people of Nigeria, particularly in the field intervention projects. and programs.
The committee must report back within eight weeks for new legislation.
These resolutions were based on a motion put forward by a member, Dachung Bagos, titled “Need to Investigate Unclaimed Funds in Nigerian Commercial Banks and Offenses Committed by the Central Bank of Nigeria”, which lawmakers passed at the unanimity.
On Monday, the committee was inaugurated in the presence of several invited federal government ministries, departments and agencies as well as banks.
Chairman of the committee, Unyime Idem, after the MDA representatives made their remarks, said, “For commercial banks, this resolution stipulates that you submit documents that would help us recover unclaimed funds in about 45 million accounts that are not linked to the BVN.
“About 45 million accounts, that’s what the House was able to discover through the recent reports. These accounts are not linked to BVN. So the money in these accounts, we want to know the positions, if you have refunded the FG or what happened to the funds You are going to give us documents to support these investigations.
According to Idem, the committee’s mission is “enormous, crucial and sensitive, given the economic situation facing the country”.
He said, “We believe the outcome of this investigation (poll) would help the country recover a very significant portion of the unclaimed funds that were hanging in some of the Nigerian commercial banks and other unauthorized hands.”
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