Since Monday when commercial banks began to publish names of persons and companies with massive nonperforming loans in the name and shame exercise, there have been indications that the process cannot be fully trusted.
Central Bank of Nigeria directed banks to make public those owing them and has failed or refused to pay in order to compel the debtors to make do their commitments with the banks.
But as soon as the process began, equal measure of doubt was thrown at the credibility of the lists.
CASE NUMBER ONE: Former member of the House of Representatives, Abike Dabiri will this Thursday morning sue Diamond Bank Plc and Punch Newspaper that published the claim of indebtedness. Diamond Bank had reported that a company where the woman that represented Ikorodu Federal Constituency for three terms serve as one of the directors, was owing the bank about N100m.
Mrs Dabiri Erewa in a press statement denied any link whatsoever with the said company. In one of the telephone chats over the matter with HOMELAND NEWS on Wednesday evening, Mrs Dabiri-Erewa said she was embarrassed beyond measure by the publication.
“In fact, I had to carry out my own finding and discovered from the CAC that the said company has two male directors. I don’t understand how my name now crawled into the head of Diamond Bank officials or the Punch Newspapers. I will be in court on Thursday to file the suit. At the end we will find out what all these is about” Mrs Dabiri-Erewa said.
CASE NUMBER TWO: A member of the Senate, Hope Uzodinma has denied any form of indebtedness to the First City Monument Bank. On Wednesday, Senator Uzodinma challenged the bank to provide details of their claims.
“I have no banking relationship with FCMB. I have never opened any account with the bank, talk more of borrowing from it. This is scandalous” he said.
Senator Uzodinma accused those he referred to as his “political detractors” of orchestrating the plot to embarrass and ridicule him.
NOW, there is no doubt that the decision by the Central Bank of Nigeria to facilitate the recovery of debts owed to the banks is a laudable step but it may be risky to solely depend on the publications made so far in arriving at any serious conclusion as more and more cases as these will continue to emerge.
