The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation has expressed concern over the refusal of some debtors of failed banks to repay outstanding loans, accusing them of deliberately frustrating recovery efforts through asset concealment, legal delays and intimidation.
The corporation warned that such practices undermine efforts to recover funds belonging to depositors and delay the payment of outstanding claims to customers of liquidated financial institutions.
The Director of the Asset Management Department of the NDIC, Ogungbemi Theophilus, raised the concerns on Monday during the Stakeholders’ Seminar and Public Relations Workshop in Abuja.
Speaking on the challenges confronting the corporation in recovering assets of failed banks, Theophilus said, “Some debtors of failed banks believe that because a bank’s licence is revoked, he is not obliged to fulfil his responsibilities anymore. They hide assets. They frustrate service. Employ delay tactics in court. Sometimes, they try to intimidate. But we have to always do our job and professionally too.”
He explained that recovering outstanding loans remained one of the most difficult aspects of bank liquidation, particularly when borrowers failed to honour their obligations before the affected institutions lost their operating licences.
“A loan that was not repaid when the bank was alive does not become easier to recover when the bank is dead,” he noted.
The director noted that delays in recovering loans and disposing of physical assets could significantly reduce their value, ultimately affecting the amount available for distribution to depositors.
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