The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has officially acquired a more formidable legal toolkit to execute its role in liquidating failing banks, according to its Managing Director and Chief Executive, Thompson Oludare Sunday.
During a courtesy visit with the Business Recovery and Insolvency Practitioners Association of Nigeria (BRIPAN), Sunday revealed that the passage of the NDIC Act No. 30 of 2023 and the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020 has changed the landscape of bank-failure resolution. These laws empower the NDIC to move beyond mere liquidation: it now has clear authority to prosecute the individuals behind institutional failures, a shift from the past, when weak legal provisions allowed many to evade accountability.
Sunday praised the National Assembly of Nigeria for closing a long-standing gap in the deposit-insurance legal structure, and noted the judiciary’s strengthening expertise in handling failed-bank cases. He explained that this improved coherence has enabled individuals to recognise that “the noose is tightening around those responsible for bank failures,” and that the NDIC’s recent success in realising assets and declaring liquidation dividends to uninsured depositors of a defunct bank was facilitated by the stronger legal regime.
On the BRIPAN side, President and Council Chairman Chimezie Victor Ihekweazu emphasised the progress achieved in harmonising insolvency laws into a unified national framework and underlined the need for deeper stakeholder collaboration.
By empowering the NDIC with enforcement and prosecution capabilities, Nigeria strengthens investor confidence in its banking sector and reduces systemic risk to the economy. This fosters enhanced stability, bolsters capital-flows and lowers the cost of credit: vital elements in a nation seeking to revive growth and attract foreign direct investment.
