The Managing Director and Chief Executive of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, Mr Thompson Oludare Sunday, has said that a new phase of accountability has begun in Nigeria’s banking sector, following the introduction of stronger legal provisions to prosecute those responsible for bank failures.
He stated this during a courtesy visit by the President and Chairman of the Council of the Business Recovery and Insolvency Practitioners Association of Nigeria, Mr Chimezie Victor Ihekweazu, and his team at the NDIC Headquarters in Abuja.
Sunday explained that the NDIC Act No 30 of 2023, working together with the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2020, has greatly strengthened the Corporation’s powers to liquidate failed insured institutions and hold individuals accountable for mismanagement leading to bank collapse. “The enhanced powers granted to the Corporation under the NDIC Act 30 of 2023 and the BOFIA 2020, coupled with the judiciary’s improved understanding of deposit insurance law, have made it impossible for individuals to hide under legal loopholes to escape liability,” he said.
He said the improved legal framework has changed the operations of the NDIC, leading to better recovery of assets from failed banks and returning more value to depositors. He noted that many individuals who previously evaded sanctions are now reaching out to the Corporation for out of court settlements, as they realise that “the noose is tightening” around those responsible for bank collapses.
The NDIC Chief Executive expressed appreciation to the National Assembly for closing the long standing gaps that had limited the Corporation’s impact in the past. He also commended the judiciary for improving its knowledge of deposit insurance laws, which he said has reflected in recent court judgments that favoured depositors and encouraged accountability.
Highlighting the progress made under the new Act, he pointed to the Corporation’s ability to recover adequate assets to declare the first round of liquidation dividends to uninsured depositors of the defunct Heritage Bank Limited within one year of its licence withdrawal, describing the achievement as “unprecedented in Nigeria’s banking history.”
In his remarks, BRIPAN President, Mr Chimezie Victor Ihekweazu, applauded the NDIC for its leadership role in strengthening Nigeria’s bank resolution framework. He said BRIPAN had continued to harmonise insolvency and business recovery laws to improve the country’s insolvency practice, and called for stronger collaboration among regulators and stakeholders to sustain public confidence in the financial system.
