Are you one of those Nigerians whose cash is hanging between banks after unsuccessful financial transactions with loved ones, business associates and friends?
Trust Parrots, they have been investigating this issue since the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele introduced his so-called monetary policy and he mopped up what was then considered old naira notes and ‘printed’ new ones.
Yes, Emefiele and his team had a good script on paper which indicated that they wanted to encourage what they called ‘cashless economy’.
Unfortunately, high-wire politics was introduced by omission or commission and hapless Nigerians fell at the receiving end.
Many trooped to different banks to transfer cash while others deployed banks’ apps on their phones, tablets and computers to transfer monies to loved ones and associates.
Unfortunately, most of the money transfer transactions ended up being unsuccessful because of the unprecedented surge in those using the different banks’ apps.
This resulted in, according to experts, “a situation whereby almost three trillion naira belonging to Nigerians is now hanging in the air”!
According to one of the financial experts (who pleaded for anonymity) our Parrots spoke to, “Nigerians stand the chance of never recovering their hard earned cash that is estimated to be plus or minus three trillion naira.”
Another financial expert informed our Parrots: “You see, when you transfer funds from your app or at the ATM center and the fund leaves your account and it does not get to the other person you sent it to, it will hang in the air. It is called ‘floating’ fund. On occasions, the transaction gets reversed.
“If not reversed, the receiver will be asked by the financial institution or bank to bring documents and to come fill documents in their banking hall.
“All the while, when the two parties, the sender and the receiver are busy slugging it out with the bank, the fund is said to be in ‘suspense’ account on air pending the time it will be traced or retrieved.”
Another anonymous source informed that some banks use this opportunity to add this kind of fund to their profits at the end of the year if the owners of such fund are not steadfast in the quest to retrieve such cash.
Said our source, “such unclaimed funds are also feted upon by Yahoo-Yahoo boys in conjunction with the few unscrupulous elements working in our banks.”
When asked what the new government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu can do to ensure that Nigerians are not short-changed, one of our sources said “President Tinubu needs to be more interested in what is going on within the financial sector especially the interactions in the Bankers’ Committee. The government also needs to totally overhaul NDIC.”
Packaged by Alice Egbedele
