‘Excessive Litigations Hinder NDIC Settlement Capacity’

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 NIGERIA Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), said Friday, that it is capable of fulfilling its statutory mandate as a financial net player to operate the deposit insurance scheme in Nigeria and to cushion the effect of financial losses of depositors of bank accounts, if lawyers will desist from unnecessary court actions, which frustrate these efforts.

The managing director and chief executive officer of the corporation, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, said this at a one-day sensitisation seminar organised for the corporation's external solicitors in Lagos with the theme, "Challenges to Deposit Insurance Law and Practice in Nigeria."

Ibrahim, who was represented by the corporation's executive director, corporate services, Honourable, Lola Abiola Edewor, said that apart from excessive litigations by lawyers, the corporation also faces the problem of execution of court judgments against its assets as the liquidator of failed banks based on the misunderstanding of its role as a liquidator.

He added that another problem is the lack of proper understanding of the distinction in the legal status of NDIC as a liquidator and deposit insurer by legal practitioners, courts and the general public, noting that the difficulty on the part of the corporation in recovering debts owed to failed banks due to inability to trace the debtors and lack of collateral, are other related challenges facing the organisation.

According to him, the seminar is to put the problems on the front burner so that lawyers who defend their cases in courts will become aware and better equipped with information regarding the operations of the corporation.

"We recognise that the corporation cannot achieve much in addressing the legal challenges without the full understanding by our solicitors of the issues involved. This seminar is one of the steps being taken by the corporation to sensitise lawyers handling cases for the corporation, and an avenue to put heads together to enable the organisation to address the challenges and realise its mandate," he stated.

Among those who delivered papers at the seminar included Dr. Koyinsola Ajayi (SAN), the director of legal services of NDIC, Mr. Alheri B. Nyako, the assistant director (legal) of NDIC, Mr. Azubuike Anyadiegwu, his colleague, Mr. Taribo Belema and Mr. A. B. Mahmud.



The Guardian