Stakeholders in Bayelsa State have urged the judiciary to take decisive action against fraudulent loan deductions and arbitrary bank charges affecting innocent customers in the state.
The chairman of the Bayelsa State Civil Liberty Organization (CLO), Comrade David West, made the call in Yenagoa while reacting to a recent case at the Federal High Court in Yenagoa, where a bank customer sued his bank over unauthorised debit on his account purportedly for a loan he did not take.
He stressed that banks must be held accountable for imposing unnecessary fees without valid justification, warning that such practices could erode public trust in the banking system.
It was gathered that Mr Chinedu Nwoke, a retired civil servant, had woken up on Sunday, June 23, 2024, when he received a loan recovery debit alert of N76,304.00, on his Access Bank account, purportedly for a COVID-19 loan valued at N700,000.00 from NISRAL Micro Finance Bank in 2021.
Upon discovering the loan came from an unfamiliar United Bank of Africa (UBA) account with his name and BVN, Nwoke visited his bank branch at Swali to investigate the issue and after informing the manager, he was directed to the Onopa branch, where the fraudulent account was reportedly opened.
Accompanied by his lawyer, he met with the branch manager, who acknowledged the complaint and revealed that the staff involved in the fraudulent act had already been dismissed. Unfortunately, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had since directed banks to recover the debt by deducting funds from any of his linked accounts through his BVN, leaving him struggling to access his money since then till date.
According to West, Mr Nwoke’s situation has been the reality for many Bayelsans who have fallen victim of fraudulent loan deductions and unnecessary charges, sometimes running into hundreds of thousands of naira.
He also criticized the difficulties faced by customers when trying to withdraw their own money, despite banks freely accepting deposits, adding that network failures and other excuses, causing unnecessary delays and frustration for customers could erode public trust in the banking system.
