The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), is advocating intensifying the understanding of judicial officers and other stakeholders on the fast-paced innovation in the banking sector to ensure efficient administration of justice to tackle the rising cases of cyber-attacks and other illegal operations in banks and other financial institutions across the country.
Bayo Olugbemi, president and chairman of council, CIBN, made the call while speaking at the 21st edition of the National Seminar on Banking and Allied Matters for Judges, organised by the institute in collaboration with the National Judicial Institute (NJI) under the auspices of the Bankers Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Olugbemi disclosed that cybercriminals have in many cases gained control of websites and portals owned by financial institutions while demanding ransom to release these sites. He added that the perpetrators also threaten to leak confidential and proprietary information of banks and their customers to the public if their monetary demands are not met.
To curtail the menace, he appealed to judicial officers especially of the superior courts and regulatory authorities to pay close attention and intervene in this rising trend of cyber-attacks and other challenges posed by innovation.
Olugbemi also pointed out that the recurring issues of abuse of procedures relating to garnishee proceedings and enforcement of lenders’ rights in secured credit transactions is a concern to the industry and continue to impede the release of additional credit to the economy, which would have helped to accelerate recovery from the downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to him, the tendency to evade legal responsibilities which borrowers have freely entered into by taking loans sourced from depositors’ funds has continued unabated, underpinned by the abuse of court processes by some of the delinquent customers to aid their unwholesome objectives.
“To further compound the situation, such recalcitrant debtors now argue disingenuously before the courts and sometimes in petitions to the Consumer Protection Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria, that legitimate legal efforts to recover these funds from the jurisdictions where they have been exported amounts to abuse of due process and “dollarization of the Nigerian economy,” he added.
The CIBN president also revealed that asides the well-known strategy to frustrate debt recovery efforts by employing different tactics to delay court proceedings, there are now new efforts to convert loans ostensibly obtained for business purposes into foreign currency and export them to other countries where it is thought that the so-called “long arm of the law” cannot reach.
Also speaking at the event, Kofo Slam-Alada, director, legal services department of the CBN, noted that the expansion of banking and financial services business to digital platforms, as opposed to the conventional forms, has now made it more imperative for judges to be tech-savvy, to enhance the quality of justice delivery generally and specifically in the financial services sector.
Slam-Alada stressed that a demonstration of deep understanding of electronic and digital payment systems by judges will give comfort to foreign investors knowing that there will be certainty in dispute resolution, should the need arise.
On his part, Salisu Abdullahi, administrator of the National Judicial Institute, expressed optimism that the seminar will equip judges to deal with complex contemporary financial disputes and develop core competence in banking matters.
Citing the BOFIA Act 2020, he said participants would be enlightened on the challenges arising from disputes involving depositors’ funds and sundry banking transactions.
In his remarks, Olumide Akpata, president of the Nigerian Bar Association, said that technology had altered banking relations. He commended the CIBN for the seminar sustained for 21 years, noting that the theme was critical in ensuring qualitative justice delivery.
Akpata also disclosed that the NBA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the CIBN to technologically bring lawyers up to speed with the industry’s evolving landscape.
