Vanity: 100 Billion Naira Belonging to Dead People Trapped In Banks

8eaab18781ad4b25a3d1d48cb430c906The House of Representatives yesterday disclosed that about N100bn belonging to deceased banks’ customers is presently trapped in dormant accounts across the country.

According to the lawmakers, while the banks continue to trade with this money, beneficiaries of the deceased persons’ estates are living in penury, with many unable to feed.

The House therefore mandated its Committee on Justice and Judiciary to liaise with the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Aloma Mukhtar to relax the requirements for access to bank accounts of deceased persons by their next of kin and dependants.

This, the lawmakers said, can be done by simplifying the process of obtaining Letters of Administration from the courts. Letters of Administration is an instrument issued by a court or public official authorizing an administrator to take control of and dispose of the estate of a deceased person.

The resolution of the House followed a motion by Hon. Abiodun Balogun (ACNOgun), which was unanimously adopted. In the motion entitled: “Need to stop the pains of Beneficiaries of Dead Account Holders go through in Nigerian Banks and Courts,” Balogun noted that death was an inevitable end for all living souls.

According to him, most people keep reasonable amount of their money in the banks due to the culture of savings imbibed by Nigerians and that when account holders die some of these monies are usually left with the banks.

He said that N100bn of deceased persons’ money was lying idle in dormant accounts in Nigerian banks. He argued that while banks had continued to trade with such monies, the beneficiaries of deceased account holders wallowed in penury.

The lawmaker noted with concern that the beneficiaries often found it difficult to access the funds as the next of kin owing to bottlenecks placed by banks. He further expressed worry that beneficiaries of bereaved contributors to the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, also experienced same cumbersome process of getting Letters of Administration. Balogun said that the inability of the beneficiaries to assess funds of deceased bread winners was discouraging people from saving with banks.

He stressed the need for the process of obtaining letters of administration from the courts to be simplified to allow beneficiaries with genuine claims access their inheritance.

He said: “That anytime beneficiaries show up to access the funds as the next of kin to the deceased, the banks usually place official and unofficial hurdles to frustrate them.

The courts that are supposed to issue Letters of Administration also engage in unwarranted delays sometimes for a period of up to one year before such Letters of Administration are issued, thereby adding greatly to the frustration of the already traumatized beneficiaries.

“Even the beneficiaries of the bereaved contributors to the CPS are not left out as they are frustrated due to their inability to make claims for their entitlements as a result of the cumbersome process of getting Letters of Administration. The inability of beneficiaries to access unclaimed funds may further discourage people from saving in our banks.”

1 COMMENT

  1. According to the story that was brought to are hearing that like 400 billion of outsiders and nigeria money were in keeping of the nigerian bank with either the next of kins of the late turn up in one way or the order to get their late brother or father’s fund from the bank. If we are to luck into the normal underground procedure of some bank in lagos even before their customer was announce late they would have know. Let me add a short story, back view years a friend of mine played and he was announce a winner in nation game lottery in US. The protocol for order country citizen( none leaving in united state) that patronise in the game was to be contacted through an Agent. On the same point a friend of mine who played and win was also tells on how to get his wins but unfortunatly something when’t wrog. He coulden,t believe a friend of him and some order peaple sold him out but then the fund was send true one of are country dispatche coarrer then, in the same year he was decleared wanted then for money loundry by one of nigerians polising agencies then but later on he also discovered that the dispatche team that was send by the coarrer company played him into some scandal then, but the claim agent was announce dead then. Back view month he made some investigation and discovered that truely the money was brought into the country then and true the information that he hard he contacted both the coarrer company and the bank but also according to the bank rules the bank can not lose any information over the fund to him. Public Suggestion what can that person do according to the law to retained his money from both the coarrer if truely the coarrer still have his money or from the bank company if truely they are still having it back 2010.