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The House of Representatives has announced the discovery of over N300 billion trapped in the country’s commercial banks.
The House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on the recovery of N1.2 trillion unclaimed funds in commercial banks, Ministries, Departments and other Agencies (MDAs), as well as Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),said on Wednesday that it discovered the hidden funds since the commencement of its investigation
At a session with Citi Bank and officials of the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council (NIPC),the chairman of the committee,Hon.Unyime Idem(PDP,Akwa Ibom),disclosed that the funds trapped were in dormant bank accounts in local and foreign currencies, accounts without BVN, failed contracts, excess unremitted funds and others.
He earlier told the management team of Citi Bank that that it owes a total of N99 billion out of the N1.2 trillion being owed Federal government by about 500 entities which include Commercial Banks, MDAs and others.
He presented a list of accounts which he said were holding such funds in Citi Bank which he said officials of the bank need to explain.
Members of the committee who made observations specifically asked the officials to explain the status of accounts belonging to ABS Ltd, Global Offshore Ltd and Titan Energy Ltd which they said were holding funds in both Naira and Dollars.
But the Executive Director, Operations and Technology of the bank, Ngozi Omoke-Enyi said that, the letter sent by the Committee which was specific on what was required had been complied with.
The bank had submitted seven accounts to the committee which were accounts without Bank Verification Number (BVN),she said.
The committee maintained that based on the documents submitted by the bank, they removed more than seven accounts which need to be scrutinized.
The Citi Bank officials were told to reconcile their accounts and appear again for clarifications.
Besides,the committee disclosed that the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council (NIPC) owes the federal government N5.2 billion in unremitted revenue, operating surplus and other funds from 2015 to 2021.
The Director of Finance NIPC, Mr James Akwa who appeared before the Committee sought an extension of time to reconcile their accounts
He informed the committee that, they made only two remittances as stated by the Committee due to the issues they had since 2016.
The committee granted the NIPC one week extension to reconcile and reappear before the committee next Wednesday.
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