Nigerian govt. to commence recovery of $7bn bailout funds to banks after 12 years

The Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property would soon commence recovery of about seven billion dollars bailout fund it granted commercial banks in the country between 2006 and 2008.

The chairman of the panel, Okoi Obono-Obla, noted that the bailout fund must be recovered from the banks to government’s coffers because it was not a gift to the financial institutions, adding that the banks were privately owned and not agencies of the federal government of Nigeria.

“The money was given to the banks by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This money was given to the banks as bailout. When we inquired from the CBN the status of the money, the CBN said the money was a ‘dash’ (gift) to commercial banks.

“How will you ‘dash’ public money to commercial banks?” Obla queried.

“So, we are investigating and we are going to recover that money and return it to the coffers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.

“One of them is the almost seven billion dollars bailout fund that the Central Bank of Nigeria granted commercial banks in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

“After 13 years or so, these commercial banks have not returned that money to the coffers of the Federal Government of Nigeria. When we inquired from the CBN the status of that money, the banks told us that the money was ‘dashed’ (given free) to the commercial banks.”

Read also: Nigerian stock market now ranked worst performing in Africa

He said the panel was putting in the right measures to recover a large piece of land belonging to a parastatal agency under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The chairman said, “That land was encroached upon, parcelled out and sold by unpatriotic people. I can assure you that we are going to recover it and prosecute all those who are responsible.

“We are also investigating and in the process of recovering a lot of landed property belongìng to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in Calabar, Warri, Koko, Sapele and Lagos ports.

“We are equally doing recoveries for the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, and other federal government agencies, across the country.”

He urged the members of the public to assist the panel with information that could lead to the recovery of stolen public property by unpatriotic individuals.

 

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now