NASS commends NDIC on Heritage Bank dividend payment progress

Lagos, April 24, 2025 (NAN) The National Assembly has commended the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) for its transparent and efficient handling of the Heritage Bank liquidation.

This commendation comes as the corporation prepares to pay the first tranche of liquidation dividend, amounting to 9.2 kobo per Naira, to the defunct bank’s depositors.

The House of Representatives Committee on Insurance and Actuarial Matters lauded the NDIC’s efforts on Thursday in Lagos at the opening ceremony of a stakeholders’ workshop jointly organised by the House Committee and the NDIC.

The theme of the retreat is “Navigating Financial Disruptions: Strengthening the NDIC’s Mandate for Economic Stability”.

Mr Ahmadu Jaha, Chairman, House Committee on Insurance and Actuarial Matters, while delivering a keynote, commended NDIC for its transparency in liquidation and payment of insured dividends to customers of the defunct bank.

Jaha said the corporation was both transparent and professional in the technique it adopted when it announced withdrawal of Heritage Bank’s license which was immediately followed by payments of insured sums.

He commended the plan to start paying depositors of the defunct Heritage Bank whose balances exceeded the maximum deposit insurance limit of N5 million before the end of April.

“This is to tell you how proactive NDIC is and to the best of my knowledge and from the report available with me, almost 99 per cent of the insured amount has been cleared and the remaining one per cent is for those that have no accounts.

“On the part of paying the dividend value, I know how transparent NDIC is to the extent of telling us that they would pay on a pro-rata basis.

“And are going to start by paying at least 9.2 kobo to a Naira for any depositors fund that is still hanging with the Heritage Bank,” he said.

According to him, the transparency is going to restore depositors confidence in not only our conventional banks but also the local finance banks that NDIC equally oversights.

He thanked NDIC for the retreat adding that the knowledge gained will help the lawmakers beyond oversight functions to working with relevant agencies in future.

Earlier, the Managing Director/CEO, NDIC, Mr Bello Hassan, while making his opening speech gave updates on the liquidation of the defunct Heritage Bank in 2024.

Hassan said depositors with balances exceeding the N5 million insurance cap would start receiving the first tranche of refunds in April.

“The payment of the insured sum was prompt in line with best practice.

“Furthermore, we have made significant progress in the disposal of the physical assets of the defunct bank, and we are pleased to announce that, the first tranche of liquidation dividend of 9.2 kobo per Naira, will be paid to uninsured depositors of the defunct bank before the end of April 2025.

“We have also re-strategised on aggressive debt recovery, to ensure that we recover outstanding debts owed to the defunct bank, to pay the balance of un-insured depositors and other claimants, in the order of priority, as provided in Section 72 of the NDIC Act of 2023.

“The NDIC also recognises that consumer protection and the preservation of public confidence in the financial system are not only critical to our mandates, but also the foundation to the continued resilience and credibility of the Nigerian banking sector,” he said. (NAN)