Heritage Bank: Lack Of Alternate Bank Accounts Stalling Payments –NDIC

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has explained why some depositors were yet to receive payment  of their insured deposits from the defunct Heritage Bank.

At the opening of a three-day retreat for senior management and executive staff of the NDIC in Kano on Friday, the managing director/chief executive officer of the corporation, Bello Hassan, said the depositors had not received their payments because they did not provide their alternative bank accounts.

He stated further that the NDIC had used the affected depositors’ Bank Verification Number (BVN), but “could not locate their alternative bank accounts with other banks within the system”.

He therefore called on the affected depositors to reach out to zonal offices of the NDIC near them in order to be verified, identified and reimbursed.

“Depositors of the defunct Heritage Bank that have not been reimbursed, largely because we don’t have their alternate bank accounts to reach out to any of NDIC zonal offices so that they can get verified, identified and reimbursed.

“Why we have not reimbursed them is because  we have used their BVN but could not locate their  alternate bank account in other banks within the system.

“So I am using this opportunity to appeal to them to come forward. To reach out to any of the zonal offices of NDIC so they can be verified,” he appealed.

He said the workshop, in collaboration with the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) is a specialised training for the senior staff, aimed at ensuring efficiency, transparency and accountability for effective procurement and financial management.

“This workshop, organised in collaboration with the BPP as our technical partners, aims at ensuring efficiency, transparency and accountability, to enable the development of effective strategies in procurement processes enterprise-wide.

“We have identified the BPP as a critical stakeholder in our attempt towards

developing effective and efficient procurement capabilities, in realising the Corporation’s strategic thrust for performance driven

culture, excellence and operational resilience, in line with its vision of becoming one of the best deposit insurers in the world.

“To achieve this culture, one of the resolutions reached at the 2023 Executive Procurement Retreat held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State was continuous training which underscored the critical need for capacity building for all NDIC Officers involved in the value chain of procurement process.

“This workshop, therefore, aligns perfectly with that resolution, aims at equipping NDIC personnel with requisite knowledge and skills necessary to navigate the evolving landscape of Public Procurement practices, procedures and regulations in Nigeria,” he stated.

On his part, director general of the Bureau, Dr Adebowale Adedokun disclosed that the agency had commenced investigation into cases of violation in procurement processes as part of an effort to check the excesses of affected organisations.

According to him, the fact is that procurement is a public sector driven system globally, and for an organisation to be able to say it had spent government money, it has to subject it to public sector procedures.

“So procurement has about nine steps. And you want them to ensure that they are following. So the process is that they are opened. They want to do procurement as prescribed by the law.

“So, basically what we are here for these three days, Is to come up with solutions to problems they have. Ours is to see what are the problems and then we come up with tailored means of solution,” he stated.