CBN Partners Human Rights Radio 101.1 to Sort out Customer Concerns As Assistant Director is Accused of Covering Up N51m Fraud

The Central Bank of Nigeria has entered into a partnership with the Humanitarian Radio 101.1FM, an Abuja based radio station that majors on intervening on domestic, person to person, contractual as well employee/ employer conflicts. It is also well known for its grassroots appeal and reach.
This disclosure was made by the Founder of the station and host of the Brekete Family Show, Mr. Ahmed Isah more popularly known as “Ordinary President” on the live show on Thursday. To this end, the bank will maintain a liason office at the station to gather customer complaints which will be promptly addressed by the bank and its officials will feature morning regularly on the program.

While speaking on the show on Thursday, Ibrahim Yahaya, the Head Market Conduct Supervision of the Central Bank of Nigeria, cautioned bank customers to be wary of who they disclose their bank information to, adding that it is the responsibility of customers to safeguard their details.
“There is no way a bank will request your bank details from you, never divulge your information to anybody. If banks are under regulation, then you also have a responsibility to protect your bank details because if you disclose your details there is nothing the regulation or the regulator can do to protect you”, he said.
He also stated that there are CBN approved timelines within which issues must be resolved failing which they should be escalated to the Central bank for resolution and appropriate sanctions on the defaulting bank. Problems arising from the use of electronic instruments such as ATM cards and point of sales (POS) machines are to resolved in a maximum time of 3 days.

Several aggrieved bank customers had been invited by the station to interface with the CBN officials. One of the most serious cases had to do with a customer of the Kano branch of Stanbic Bank whose account officer allegedly forged his account and siphoned the whopping sum of N51 million from his account into his own priivate company account. According to the aggrieved customer who was physically present at the station, after the matter was brought to the notice of the apex bank, the culprit refunded the sum of N10.8m.
Efforts to press for the balance met a brick wall as the Central Bank Consumer Protection staff who was handling the matter, Mr. Nuhu Othniel not only tried to shield the culprits by appealing to the complainant to backtrack because several jobs will be lost if he continued with the case but subsequently threatened to deal with the complainant if he persists on following up the case. He stated that the CBN staff in question has recently been promoted to the position of Assistant Director. He lamented that all his efforts to get redress on the matter through the police in Kano and Abuja as well as the EFCC have so far failed.
Another touching case was that of a staff of the Nigerian Correctional Service who took a loan of N5.65 million from Unity Bank in 2010. The facility was not paid to him in cash but the bank staffer went with him to make purchase of the tractor which the money was meant for. Unfortunately, floods and the insecurity in the North East largely frustrated the use of the equipment. Nonetheless with the encouragement of the operating staff, they plodded on. However in 2013 the bank insisted on reviewing the interest rate upwards to 32percent from 30percent. Unknown to him, the actual rate being applied is 36 percent. So as of now the matter has become unbearable to him because even though he has paid over N11m the bank claims he is still owing N37m. According to him, he has not had access to his salary account for 9 years because of the loan.
Mr.Yahaya assured that each of the issues will be thoroughly investgated and dealt with on its own merit by the CBN.

Another highpoint of the programme was the appearance of several former workers of Access Bank who were unceremoniously dropped by the bank without any cessation package.Most of the aggrieved ex workers of Access bank had put in over 10 years of service with some as long as 18 years and others 14 years. Some were actually asked to go entirely empty handed according to the Revelations on the show. A former bullion van driver recounted how he was on his way to deliver $19, 000 with the van and received a text message to the effect that he his services were no longer required.

Speaking on the show, Mr. Olalekan Ajayi, of the Corporate Communications Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria, unveiled the communication channels through which the Central Bank can be reached for the purpose of lodging their complaints with minimum stress and cost. These include: email: cpd@cbn.gov.ng, toll free phone line: 07002255226 .