CBN, you be thief?

TUNDE OYEDOYIN  

Tunde Oyedoyin is a London-based personal finance coach and founder of Money Intelligence Coaching Academy, a specialist academy of personal finance. He can be reached as follows: +447846089587 (WhatsApp only); E-mail: tu5oyed@gmail.com

First things first. One of songs of the late “Abami Eda” – mysterious person – Fela Anikulapo Kuti, which goes like this; “you be thief? I no be thief , .., argument , argument..,” came rushing to my mind when news broke over a week ago that Dr Yemi Cardoso and his Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN crew, have ordered banks and other financial institutions to turn over the dormant accounts of their customers to the apex bank.

I like how the Saturday ThisDay newspaper of July 20th reported it: “CBN Orders Banks to Transfer Dormant Accounts, Unclaimed Balances, Others to its Custody.”

According to the story, the CBN “yesterday unveiled new revised guidelines on the management of dormant accounts, unclaimed balances and other financial assets in banks and Other Financial Institutions (OFIs) in the country.” Continuing, the paper said: “the new framework mandates the financial institutions to ensure that accounts that have remained dormant for 10 years and above are transferred to the custody” of the apex bank.

It went on to say: “The CBN disclosed the revised guidelines on the management of dormant accounts in a circular dated July 19, 2024, which was signed by the Director, Financial Policy and Regulations Department, Mr. John Onoja, and addressed to all banks and OFIs.” The apex bank, the newspaper of record added: “said the continuous maintenance of such accounts results to accumulation of huge unclaimed balances at the disposal of the financial institutions for which the depositors may not be adequately compensated. In addition, dormant and unclaimed balances are increasingly susceptible to fraudulent transactions or abuse,” CBN noted.

Once again, it’s important to ask the apex bank, “you be thief?”(Are you a thief?). Perhaps their answer is going to be: “We no be thief.” Next question will be: “You be robber?” Won’t be surprised if Cardoso gets some of the folks working with him to chorus: “We no be armed robber.” That definitely leads to an argument. That’s the reason for this piece .

But seriously, if the CBN cares so much about safeguarding the balances and unclaimed dividends of those people, why not mandate the banks and OFIs to go in search of their customers and to report back to you? It appears all that Dr Cardoso and his crew are interested in is a slice of the action. The apex bank seems to be more interested in making use of those funds rather than for the altruistic reasons spewed out in their so-called guideline.

In order words, if in truth the concern of the CBN is to really ensure banks and other financial institutions are not really trading with the dormant balances and unclaimed dividends of the “little guys” and also to prevent abuse as they want us to believe, the apex bank should, aside asking for a list of such accounts and actions taken thus far, CBN should provide guidelines on how the monies and the unclaimed funds will get to the pockets of their owners. If it doesn’t do this, like baba 70, one is tempted to ask “you be thief?” The ball is in your court, CBN.

Why are Nigerian banks short on cash?

While I was in the fatherland for two weeks till the first Friday of July, yours truly had a first hand experience of what customers have been experiencing in the hands of our banks for God knows how long.

As it turns out, people don’t always get all the money they want, either from the cash machines and even from the counters. Interestingly, nobody gave me a heads up as to what to expect

Things unfolded the day after landing in the country, which was a Saturday. We were on Opebi Road in Ikeja, Lagos State, to withdraw some cash. The machine was very sluggish and didn’t even allow you to take out as much as fifty thousand grand. Other users who were lining up behind Mrs O. and her sister weren’t excited that they took forever in front of the Automated Teller Machine, ATM. But it wasn’t their fault. The bank had instructed their machine to ration people’s cash to them.

A couple of days later, while inside a branch of First Bank in a different part of Ikeja, the friendly staff member told me, one couldn’t withdraw beyond fifty thousand. On another visit to the same branch, it was their server that was down. While this is understandable, denying customers their cash is beyond me.

This is the sort of thing Cardoso and the folks at the CBN should be poking their heads into aside from other beneficial functions they perform on behalf of everyone.

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