The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate growing concerns over arbitrary and incessant charges imposed by commercial banks across Nigeria.
The House decried that many Nigerian customers have repeatedly experienced multiple charges, such as SMS alerts, card maintenance fees, account maintenance charges, interbank transfer fees, stamp duties and unexplained debts, some of which it said, are either duplicated or unaccounted for.
The House expressed worry that these “exploitative practices disproportionately affect businesses, low-income earners, small businesses, students and vulnerable groups who struggle to keep their finances in check amid the harsh economic realities in the country.”
Consequently, the House has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to publish a comprehensive and simplified list of all approved bank charges and to strictly enforce sanctions against financial institutions found to be in breach of such regulations.
It also called on the CBN to establish a more accessible and efficient complaints redress mechanism for customers affected by illegal or excessive deductions.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance sponsored by Muktar Shagaya, lawmaker representing Kwara during plenary on Tuesday.
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Moving the motion, Shagaya said these exploitative practices persist despite the CBN’s existing guidelines regulating bank tariffs, which are often disregarded by financial institutions with apparent impunity.
“These exploitative practices undermine financial inclusion, erode public trust in the banking system, and place additional strain on households and small enterprises. If this trend is not urgently investigated and addressed, it will continue to weaken confidence in Nigeria’s financial institutions and hinder the CBN’s inclusion objectives”, Shagaya said.
Following deliberations, the House mandated its Committees on Banking Regulations and Banking Institutions to urgently invite the Central Banl of Nigeria and key commercial banks operating in Nigeria to appear before it over the issue.
