Obi urges prompt payment to Heritage Bank depositors

The 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, addressed the Central Bank of Nigeria's recent decision to revoke Heritage Bank's operating licence and asked for prompt action to safeguard depositors and preserve trust in the financial system.

Obi recognised the regulators' confirmation that the revocation was required to improve financial stability in a statement released via X on Monday, but he also emphasised the significant effects it will have on the depositors of Heritage Bank.

"Although the regulators have confirmed that the latest CBN order revoking Heritage Bank's operating licence and appointing NDIC as its asset liquidator is necessary to improve financial stability, it has a significant impact on the bank's depositors," he said.

Obi called on the Federal Government, acting through the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, to guarantee the prompt payment of all depositors in full, citing the severe economic conditions the nation faces.

"To help ease the current hardship the people in the nation are going through, I will urge the federal government via NDIC to ensure immediate payment of all depositors in Heritage Bank in full," he stated.

Obi brought attention to the predicament of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and individual depositors, who are already facing significant financial difficulties and rely on their deposits in the now-liquidated bank to survive.

Numerous small and individual savers are already suffering greatly from the economy's negative repercussions and are living in extreme poverty. To survive, these depositors rely on their savings in the now-liquidated bank," he continued.
Any attempt to withhold or postpone paying these depositors could exacerbate their financial difficulties and spark a crisis of trust in the banking sector, Obi cautioned.

He issued a warning: "Any attempt to withhold or postpone payment to these depositors would exacerbate their financial difficulties and could trigger a crisis of confidence in the banking system."

Obi emphasised the need to preserve public confidence in the financial system while also highlighting the status of the country's economy.

Anything less than a complete and quick payment might send the financial industry into a frenzy that our already precarious economy cannot afford. He said that the government's activities through the CBN should never cause the financial system to become unstable or for the people to lose faith in the system's integrity.

Heritage Bank Plc's banking licence was withdrawn by the CBN on Monday, with immediate effect.

The bank's failure to enhance its financial performance, which constituted a risk to financial stability, led to this judgement. This was revealed in a statement by Sidi Ali, Acting Director of Corporate Communication Department of the national bank.

As a result, the NDIC declared that Heritage Bank Plc's liquidation had begun.

The NDIC promised everyone that it would give N5 million insured deposits. to the bank's depositors.

In a statement released on Monday, the company's director of communications and public affairs, Bashir Nuhu, stated that the liquidation complies with NDIC Act 2023's Section 55 Sub-sections 1 and 2.