Many bank customers affected by the new Central Bank of Nigeria guidelines on dormant accounts rushed to their various banks on Tuesday to reactivate the accounts.
Some of the customers, who spoke to correspondents in Abuja on Tuesday, said they had to activate their bank accounts to avoid the mopping up of their little savings by CBN.
Further inquiries by our correspondent confirmed the situation, with courtrooms also becoming crowded with requests to swear affidavits.
A bank official at a first-generation bank informed correspondents that numerous customers and families had submitted requests to re-activate inactive accounts so as not to lose the money to the apex bank that intends to use them for investment purposes.
The official said, “Yes, we have seen customers coming to the bank to reactivate their accounts. Even relatives and next of kin to dead persons have submitted applications to withdraw amounts left in the account of their loved ones. It looks like the CBN guidelines made them remember those accounts.”
A businesswoman, Mrs Ugonne Akputa, said she paid some money into her six-year-old Access Bank account, which she had left for some time in order to reactivate it.
Akputa said she still needed to operate the account to save some money which she rarely withdrew.
”I went to my bank to make enquiries about my account, which I have left for some time now.
”They told me that I should just put money into the account to activate it, and I did,” she said.
Another customer at First Bank, Mr Cyprian Yusuf, said he was at the bank to make enquiries on his late brother’s account.
Yusuf said though he was not aware of the amount in the account, he would not forfeit the money.
”When I heard of this dormant account thing, I decided to quickly come to my late brother’s bank to ask them how I could retrieve the money.
”He died three years ago and I don’t think the account has been in operation.
”So, I want to see what I can do so that his wife and children can use the money at least to feed,” he said.
Another bank customer, Mrs Chinny Olaedo, appealed to banks and the CBN to ensure the safety of customers’ monies, especially those abroad.
“I live abroad, but I came back to Nigeria for something very important to my family.
”I have a savings account in one of the banks, and I have my savings there. I transferred some money into the account recently so that it will still be active but I know that many people abroad might not know about this or do this.
”The CBN and other banks should make things easier for us abroad so that many of us will still be operating our Nigerian accounts,” she said.
A bank official who pleaded anonymity said it would take six months of no activity in an account before it would be declared dormant in their bank.
The official said the bank would notify customers whose accounts were dormant in line with the CBN’s guidelines.
The source said the bank was preparing reports to also notify the CBN on the status of their dormant customers’ accounts.
Another bank official, who also preferred anonymity, called on customers whose accounts were dormant to pay in money into them to activate them.
According to CBN, eligible accounts are dormant accounts with balances that have remained with the financial institutions for 10 years and beyond.
The apex bank said the aim of the guidelines was to identify dormant accounts/unclaimed balances and financial assets with a view to re-uniting them with their beneficial owners and holding the funds in trust for the beneficial owners.
The bank said the objective was also to standardise the management of dormant accounts/unclaimed balances and financial assets and establish a standard procedure for reclaiming warehoused funds.
The CBN said it would open and maintain an account earmarked to warehouse unclaimed balances in eligible accounts.
According to the CBN, the account would be called an “Unclaimed Balances Trust Fund Pool Account”.
The CBN had also cleared next-of-kin, a legal representative or beneficial owner, to make claims on unclaimed balances or funds in dormant accounts.
The bank said the NoK to dormant account owner could now make claims on unclaimed balances or funds in dormant accounts by submitting applications for the reclaims to the financial institutions.
Olaitan Ibrahim