Senator Lawan: NDIC Act will receive accelerated action

Senate President Ahmad Lawan has assured that the bill to amend the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) Act will receive an accelerated hearing to ensure efficiency in the banking system.

Lawan disclosed this in Abuja on Monday at a public lecture to mark the 30th anniversary of the corporation. The Senate President congratulated the NDIC for its giant strides since inception.

“The NDIC and the National Assembly have something in common: over-sight, and NDIC does this on behalf of Nigerians and that is what we do. The Ooni of Ife raised a royal motion and when there is a royal motion, you do not put that kind of motion to questions.

“Everybody here knows that the NDIC Act needs amendment so your motion has received a ‘YES’.

“We all know that the National Assembly has suspended plenary sessions to take budget defence. We are doing this to ensure that we pass the budget before the end of December to revert to the January-December budget cycle which is imperative for our economy to grow.

“I want to assure you that when we resume plenary, the NDIC Act amendment bill will be top priority,’’ he said.

Earlier, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi appealed for an upward review of the NDIC’s current maximum deposit insurance coverage of N500,000 per depositor in the event of any bank failure.

Ogunwusi said that it was not fair to pay a depositor only N500,000 when he had millions of naira in his or her failed bank account. He appealed for an expedited action to amend and pass the NDIC Act into law.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, urged the NDIC to beam its searchlight on those who borrow monies from banks with the intention of not paying back. Gbajabiamila was represented by Mr. Victor Nwokolo, the House Committee Chairman on Banking and Currency.

Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said the bank would continue to collaborate with the NDIC to sustain and stabilise the financial system of the economy.

Emefiele, represented by Mr. Edward Adamu, the Deputy Governor, Corporate Services of the Bank, said that NDIC and CBN would step up financial literacy, surveillance, and credit to the real sector.

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