Banking
CBN Goes One More Mile To Lure The Unbanked
ABUJA: There are about 167 million in the country. At least the number of adults will be well over 80 million. But very few Nigerians have bank accounts, particularly in the rural areas.
Many Nigerians see banking as an elitist thing, while others with very low income are discouraged by bank charges.
A new survey has revealed that 56.3 million adults, representing 64.1 per cent of the adult population, do not have bank accounts.
The survey carried out by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access, an independent financial sector development organisation, showed that only 28.6 million people, representing 32.5 per cent of adult population have bank accounts.
The 2012 report, titled, ‘EFInA Access to Financial Services in Nigeria 2012 Survey,’ made available to our correspondent on Friday, showed that “62.6 per cent of adult males are unbanked while 72.8 per cent of adult females are unbanked.”
It also said 76.2 per cent of the rural population had no bank accounts.
According to the Chief Executive Officer, EfINA, Ms. Modupe Ladipo, the banked group refers to people that currently have access to or use a deposit money bank, in addition to having any of these products – ATM card, credit card, savings account, current account, fixed deposit account, mortgage, overdraft, loan, and Islamic banking product.
Of the total adult population, 4.6 million adults, representing 5.2 per cent of the adult population, have a microfinance bank account.
Unknown to many people, it was perhaps for the purpose of inclusion that made the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to come out with the idea of reducing the burden banks have put on hapless Nigerians.
The central bank was somehow however able to convince the leadership of the banks – Bankers Committee to agree with it on reducing charges heaped on banks’ customers. The apex bank asked banks to reduce the Cost of Transactions (COT) from N5 per N1,000 to N3 per N1,000 and remove the N100 charge on every ATM transactions.
Grudgingly, the banks have accepted to forget the illicit N100 charged on the use of ATMs. But they are yet to comply with the reduction on COT, it is hoped that the central bank will still find a way of whipping the ‘naughty’ banks into line.
Toyin, a driver with one of the companies in Lagos wondered why the banks will not consider a poor man like himself who sometimes wish to collect N1,000 through the ATM and not charge him N100.
But today, Toyin is very appreciative of what the apex bank has convinced the Bankers’ Committee to adopt.
Bose, a house cleaner who is paid between N2,000 and N3,000 per compound a month said, sometimes, before the central bank intervention on ATM charges, she just wish to collect N500 with her ATM, but whenever she thought about the N100 charges, she just wish she never kept her little money in a bank.
Much more people will be relieved if the banks agree with the apex bank on the need to reduce COT.
The central bank had ordered banks to remove the N100 ATM charge when users of other banks use their ATMs in order to encourage the use of ATMs.
The decision was taken at the end of a meeting in Abuja between the CBN and the Bankers Committee. The Group Managing Director, First Bank Plc, Mr. Bisi Onasanya had told newsmen that the charge as well as others associated with the use of ATMs would be scrapped soon.
But then it took weeks before they reluctantly agreed.
As a follow up, the central bank said it is considering adopting a template of fines and other sanctions against any bank found to have made illegal deductions or charges on customers’ accounts without evidence of commensurate justification in service quality.
The apex bank is not happy, saying it has been inundated with complaints by customers over diverse charges not related to services rendered.
According to the apex bank, it had already set up a Consumer Protection Department to deal with issues relating to customers’ complaints from their dealings with banks.
The Chief Operating Officer of Sterling Bank, Yemi Adeola, at the end of the Bankers Committee meeting, had said that the special department which is to take care of consumer protection is a demonstration of the committee’s commitment to ensure that the consumer derives the maximum benefit from banks.
Noting that the incidences of multiple charges by banks have become a great source of concern to the apex bank, Mr. Adeola urged consumers to lodge their complaints to the Consumer Protection Department for thorough investigations and punishment of any bank found culpable.
“The CBN will not take lightly to issues of overcharging of customers by banks and that is why we have issued several exposure drafts and one of them is the guide to banking charges. This is a contract between banks and their customers,” he said.
“It will detail the charges the bank intends to make on the customers so that they will be aware before hand and also to avoid unnecessary charges that are not in the contract.”
Because of high charges and other sundry reasons, a report said, many adult Nigerians keep their monies at home, a big lure to the ever increasing armed robbers.
No fewer than 23.8 million Nigerian adults currently keep their money at home because they don’t have bank accounts.
A survey by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access, a Nigeria-based financial sector development organisation, revealed that 52.8 million out of the country’s adult population saved money regularly. But the survey showed that only 20.5 million of the 52.8 million were doing so in banks.
This confirms experts’ opinion that there are about 22 million bank accounts in the country.
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) announced that it has filed a lawsuit against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) “over the failure to account for and explain the whereabouts of the missing or diverted N3 trillion of public funds, including the over N629 billion paid to ‘unknown beneficiaries’ as part of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme.”
The lawsuit followed the grave allegations contained in the latest annual report by the Auditor-General of the Federation, which was published on 9 September 2025.
In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/250/2026 filed last week at the Federal High Court in Abuja, SERAP stated that it is seeking “an order of mandamus to direct and compel the CBN to account for and explain the whereabouts of the missing or diverted N3 trillion of public funds, including detailed reports of how exactly the funds were spent.”
In the suit, SERAP is arguing that, “These grim allegations by the Auditor-General suggest grave violations of the public trust, the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], the CBN Act, and anticorruption standards.”
SERAP is also arguing that, “These grave violations also reflect a failure of CBN accountability more generally and are directly linked to the institution’s persistent failure to comply with its Act and to uphold the principles of transparency and accountability.”
CBN Gov, Olayemi Cardoso
According to SERAP, “These violations have seriously undermined the ability of the CBN to effectively discharge its statutory functions and the public trust and confidence in the bank. The CBN ought to be committed to transparency and accountability in its operations.”
SERAP also stated in its suit that, “Nigerians have the right to know the whereabouts of the missing or diverted public funds. Granting the reliefs sought would advance the right of Nigerians to restitution, compensation and guarantee of non-repetition.”
SERAP said, “Section 15(5) of the Nigerian Constitution requires public institutions to abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power. Section 13 of the Constitution imposes clear responsibility on the CBN to conform to, observe and apply the provisions of Chapter 2 of the constitution.”
The suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers Oluwakemi Agunbiade and Valentina Adegoke, read in part: “According to the Auditor-General, the CBN in 2022 failed to remit over N1 trillion [N1,445,593,400,000.00] of ‘the Federal Government’s portion of operating surplus’ into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) account.”
“The Auditor-General fears that the money may have been ‘diverted.’ He wants the money recovered and remitted to the treasury.”
“The CBN also failed to recover over N629 billion [N629,040,000,000.00] paid to ‘unknown beneficiaries’ as part of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, a programme ‘meant to support farmers to ensure sustainable food production in the country.’”
“But ‘the numbers of beneficiaries who collected the money are unknown.’ The CBN has also failed to ‘recover the money.’ The Auditor-General fears ‘the money may have been diverted’, which could have ‘contributed to the difficulty in sustaining food security in the Nation.’”
“He wants the money recovered and remitted to the treasury.”
“The CBN has also failed to recover over N784 billion [N784,410,108,864.47] ‘being 32 unpaid, overdue loans and interventions disbursed by the Bank between 2018 and May 2022.’”
“The Auditor-General said ‘there was no evidence that the Bank was doing enough to recover the loans/interventions, which ought to have been paid.’ He wants the money recovered and remitted to the treasury.”
“The CBN in 2022 also spent over N125 billion [N125,374,000,000.00] ‘on questionable intervention activities.’ The CBN claimed it spent the money ‘on intervention activities in connection with national security, the federal government, state securities, armed forces and to build the capacity of the financial sector’.”
“But the Auditor-General is concerned that the money may have been spent ‘without the approval of the National Assembly.’ There was also no document to ‘support the expenditure.’”
“The ‘expenditure also may not have been in the public interest and consistent with the objectives of the CBN in section 2 of the CBN Act.’ The Auditor-General fears the money may have been ‘diverted.’ He wants the money recovered and remitted to the treasury.”
“The CBN in 2022 also ‘unjustifiably’ spent over N1 billion [N1,792,769,160.00] to buy 43 operational vehicles for the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).”
“According to the Auditor-General, ‘the spending is unjustified because there is no connection with buying operational vehicles for the NIS and the objectives of the CBN as stated in section 2 of the CBN Act.’”
“The NIS also ‘failed to provide any evidence to show that the vehicles were actually supplied and delivered.’ There ‘were also no procurement and payment records or documents.’ The Auditor-General fears the money may have been ‘diverted’. He wants the money recovered and remitted to the treasury.”
“The CBN also awarded 43 contracts for over N189 billion [N189,50,066,756.73]. The Auditor-General said that ‘the contractors deliberately delayed completion of these contracts by seeking extension of the completion period.’”
“The contractors then ‘requested for variation of the contracts due to extension of completion period.’ Following the request, the CBN paid the contractors over N9 billion [N9,270,849,691.61] ‘irregular variation of contract price.’”
“There ‘were no relevant procurement documents such as contract files, procurement records, and payment vouchers’ for the payment. The Auditor-General fears ‘the money may have been diverted’ and the projects may have been abandoned.’ He wants the money recovered and remitted to the treasury.”
“The Katsina state branch of the CBN also failed to recover over N90 million [N90,163,610.00] being ‘outstanding loans and interventions disbursed to 33 small and medium enterprises during Covid 19 in 2020.’”
“The Auditor-General fears ‘the money may have been ‘diverted’ or ‘mismanaged’. He wants the money recovered and remitted to the treasury.”
“Paragraph 3112(ii) of the Financial Regulations 2009 provides: ‘Where a public officer fails to account for government revenue, such officer shall be surcharged for the full amount involved and such officer shall be handed over to either the EFCC or the ICPC.’”
“Section 51 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act provides that, ‘A person shall have legal capacity to enforce the provision of this Act by obtaining prerogative orders or other remedies at the Federal High Court, without having to show any special particular interest.’”
“The Nigerian Constitution, Freedom of Information Act, and the country’s anti-corruption and human rights obligations rest on the principle that citizens should have access to information regarding their public institutions’ activities.”
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.
Banking
Millions of customers still stranded worldwide 24 hours after GT Bank online operations suffered attacks
By Yemie ADEOYE
GT Bank, one of Nigeria’s leading banks, with operations across Africa and the United kingdom, and with an asset base of about US$3.11 trillion is under a cyber attack which has left millions of its customers across the world stranded in the last 24 hours.
The bank which was renowned for its seamless online operations at inception has suffered dwindling online efficiency in recent years and this current attack didn’t come as a surprise to many of its numerous customers. However, it is becoming worrisome that over 24 hours after its online operations went down, the bank has not been able to arrest the situation and restore its online services.
Stranded GT Bank customers outside the banks premises
Several customers of the bank took to their X (formerly known as twitter) handles to express their frustrations at the bank, as several of the customers in the diaspora are unable to access their accounts and carry on with their transactions. A customer , Jeff55 who lamented on his X handle about the development, stated that it is a thing of shock that a bank of this size couldn’t afford to have the necessary tools and experts to ensure a full protection of its online operations in this age and time.
Another customer Dimma stated that while Cybersecurity training may seem tedious, the recent #GTBank hack is a stark reminder that everyone is just a click away from a devastating attack.
Several media organisations had reported that hackers have stolen GT Bank website, and intercepted customers Data in massive phishing operation.
At the time of filing this report, Biztellers.com.ng checks on the banks website shows that it is still down and unaccessible, and neither GT Bank media and communications unit nor any of its agencies or surrogates have commented officially on the development.
Says output surge buoyed by reforms he announced in May 2024 to address gaps in PIA
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Sunday declared a resurgence in the oil & gas industry, commending the increased crude production to 1.6 million barrels per day.
The president, who said this in a national broadcast, maintained that the resurgence was buoyed by the reforms he announced in May 2024 to address the gaps in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Nigeria’s crude oil output got a boost to 1.61 million barrels per day in July 2024 through the president’s directive and the industry leadership provided by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
Acknowledging what he called a resurgence of the once-declining oil and gas industry in his Sunday-morning broadcast to the nation, President Tinubu said that oil investors are coming back to Nigeria.
He said; “Our once-declining oil and gas industry is experiencing a resurgence on the back of the reforms I announced in May 2024 to address the gaps in the Petroleum Industry Act. Last month, we increased our oil production to 1.61 million barrels per day, and our gas assets are receiving the attention they deserve. Investors are coming back, and we have already seen two Foreign Direct Investments signed of over half a billion dollars since then.
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“Fellow Nigerians, we are a country blessed with both oil and gas resources, but we met a country that had been dependent solely on oil-based petrol, neglecting its gas resources to power the economy.
We were also using our hard-earned foreign exchange to pay for and subsidise its use. To address this, we immediately launched our Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (CNG) to power our transportation economy and bring costs down.
This will save over two trillion Naira a month, being used to import PMS and AGO and free up our resources for more investment in healthcare and education.
“To this end, we will be distributing a million kits of extremely low or no cost to commercial vehicles that transport people and goods and who currently consume 80% of the imported PMS and AGO.
“We have started the distribution of conversion kits and the setting up of conversion centres across the country in conjunction with the private sector. We believe that this CNG initiative will reduce transportation costs by approximately 60 per cent and help to curb inflation.”
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