The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) on Tuesday promised to explore the enforcement powers provisions of the NDIC Act 2023 for full recovery of all outstanding loans from debtors of failed banks in the country.
The commission’s Managing Director/Chief Executive, Mr Thompson Oludare Sunday, made the pledge at a sensitisation seminar with the theme “Operationalising the Provisions of NDIC Act 2023 for Effective Debt Recovery” organized by the corporation for Debt Recovery Agents in Lagos.
Oludare, who was represented by the Director of the Legal Department, Olufemi Kushimo, maintained that the culture of loan defaults and protracted litigation being used by debtors to stall payments would no longer be allowed in order to strengthen the banking system.
He clarified: “We intend to utilise every section, provision, and enforcement mechanism available under the law. Those responsible for bank failures must be held accountable. We are prepared to apply every relevant provision of the Act to bring culpable parties to justice.”
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According to the corporation’s Director of the Asset Management Department, Patricia Okosun, while legal realities make it difficult to set a fixed timeline for all payments, the corporation is now better equipped than ever before.
She explained that the purpose of the seminar was to sensitise the corporation’s agents to the new provisions that will support and improve their work, stressing that the earlier the recovery, the better, as it enables quicker reimbursement of depositors.
The NDIC Act 2023 empowers the corporation to take interim custody of any movable or immovable property of an obligor identified as the bona fide owner of the said property and also empowers it to freeze the funds of an obligor of a failed insured institution with any insured institution.
The NDIC management noted that the provisions encapsulated in the NDIC Act 2023 were designed to bypass the traditional hurdles of repeated court adjournments and “entrenched cultures of default” that have historically slowed down the liquidation of failed banks and mobile money operators.
According to the corporation, successful debt recovery is the only way to restore public confidence in the banking system.
