Nume Ekeghe
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Mr. Thompson Oludare, has assured depositors of microfinance banks (MFBs) whose licences were revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that they remain protected under the country’s deposit insurance framework, as the corporation continues payment of the guaranteed portion of their deposits.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NDIC, Mr. Thompson Oludare, said the corporation was still paying eligible depositors of the 46 MFBs whose licences were revoked by the CBN on July 1, 2026.
Oludare said the payment process was ongoing and that the corporation could not yet provide a final figure for the number of depositors paid, as new beneficiaries continued to be identified and processed.
Oludare said this yesterday at a three-day workshop for senior management and executive staff of the NDIC, organised in collaboration with the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).
He said, “As we speak, we have started paying the depositors. That’s the guaranteed portion of their deposits. It’s an ongoing process, and it is difficult to put numbers because even as I speak with you today, Friday, I’m sure new depositors are being paid,” he said.
He explained that the NDIC was leveraging Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs), in collaboration with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), to identify affected depositors and locate their alternative accounts in other banks for direct payment.
According to him, the approach was designed to make the process seamless and eliminate the need for depositors to appear physically before the corporation for verification.
“All we need to do is to make sure that the accounts that have BVNs, that’s the Bank Verification Number identified, and in collaboration with the NIBSS, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, we identify their alternative accounts in other banks and pay them seamlessly without their having to come to us for verification.”
The NDIC chief said the ongoing exercise was part of the corporation’s mandate to protect depositors and sustain confidence in the financial system, noting that financial institution failures, while undesirable, could occur.
He said the objective of the deposit insurance system was to ensure that customers were not left without protection when such failures occurred.
“Our expectation is that you have a country where deposit insurance is pervasive, where people know that their deposits with the banks are guaranteed and safe.
“We do not expect institutions to fail, but then it is a fact of life. Just as people will die, some institutions will fail. But when they do, we want depositors to be sure that they are covered by the NDIC.”
At the workshop, the Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the BPP, Dr. Adebowale A. Adedokun, disclosed that the federal government saved N400 billion in the first six to seven months of 2026 through its price intelligence and benchmarking system.
Adedokun said the mechanism had also generated N1.1 trillion in savings for the government in 2025.
He explained that the BPP benchmarks procurement requests and project costs submitted by government agencies against prevailing market prices before approval, allowing the bureau to identify excessive pricing and reduce procurement costs.
According to him, the savings represent funds that would otherwise have been spent on inflated procurement costs and can now remain available to government agencies for other priorities.
Adedokun said the introduction of price intelligence had also increased awareness among contractors and government agencies, while strengthening technical scrutiny of public procurement.
“The most important thing is the awareness that has been brought into the system, the technical prudency that has been produced is beginning to give governments not only savings and also demanding that contractors do a good job,” he said.