By Ubong Ukpong, Abuja

The House of Representatives ad-hoc committee, investigating the unclaimed funds in the nation’s commercial banks and infractions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), yesterday, told the banks to tow an honourable path and return federal government’s unclaimed funds, or get prepared for sanctions.

Committee Chairman, Honourable Unyime Idem, at the inaugural sitting of the committee, said the affected commercial banks should feel free to do so, promising that their interests would be protected.

“The House will not hesitate to stop you from collecting funds that belong to the Federal Government, but if you cooperate, it will be a win, win situation.

He said as at last week, letters had gone out to the banks detailing them on this position of the House and the probe.

The Chairman said two weeks were given to the banks to prepare their submissions and tidy up their books for the exercise, before they would be scheduled to appear before the committee to defend their submissions.

Rep Idem said the committee would recover any hanging fund that is currently in the hands of unauthorized persons, organizations, to the coffers of the Federal government.

In his welcome remarks at the opening, Hon Idem said, “This exercise we are embarking upon has become compellingly imperative as our budget deficit in Nigeria continues to grow viz-a-viz the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in recent years. It has exceeded the 3% benchmark in the last three years. The highest was in 2021 at 3.67% while that of 2020 was 3.03%.

“These deficits are being financed by Domestic and Foreign Loans which are no longer sustainable as the debts are mounting in the face of our dwindling resources and on the other hand, our nation is faced with multi-faceted challenges ranging from insecurity, high rate of unemployment and hyper-inflation to mention just a few.

“This is indeed a matter of concern to the  House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, hence the setting up of this Ad-Hoc Committee by the Honourable Speaker, Rt Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.

“For the information to all the stakeholders, the core objective of this committee’s assignment is to recover any hanging Funds that are currently in the hands of unauthorized persons/individuals and Corporate bodies.

“The work of the Committee would focus on the following amongst others:

“(i) Identification of the critical stakeholders in the issue of Unclaimed Funds in Nigerian Commercial Banks & the Infractions by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

ii) The specific roles of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Commercial Banks and the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government of Nigeria on the issue of unclaimed funds etc.

“iii) The level of Compliance with the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy by the MDAs since its commencement in December 2015.

“iv) Review of long outstanding Advance Payment Guarantees (APGs) issued on Federal Government projects, and monies held because of failed and unexecuted contracts etc.

“v) Evaluation of the Level of Compliance with the operation of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) regime by the Nigerian Commercial Banks under the supervision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other stakeholders such as the Nigerian Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).

“(vi) Review of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Intervention Funds/Scheme from year 2000– 2021 in order to evaluate its impact and also conduct an assessment of its operations.

“(vii) And most importantly, to recover all identified hanging funds in the custody of unauthorized persons and corporate bodies to the coffers of the Federal Government of Nigeria,” he enumerated.

The Chairman said it was the opinion of the   House of Representatives that recovery of a substantial part of these hanging funds would assist the Federal Government of Nigeria to improve budget funding and consequently a reduction in budget deficit, amongst other areas.

Inaugurating the committee and declaring open the public hearing, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, represented by his deputy, Rep Idris Wase, urged the stakeholders to cooperate with the committee to achieve the desired of the House of Representatives to recover these unclaimed funds.