Banker workers may have been left reeling in the gale of anxiety following a directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that all personnel working in the 19 Deposit Money Banks in the country declare their assets.
The directive, which was contained in a letter by the Apex bank through the Banking Supervision Department of the CBN, was issued about 4 weeks ago. In the letter, bank officials were given only one week to complete the assets declaration process.
According to reports in the Punch, the apex bank had given all bank officials only one week ultimatum to complete the assets declaration process to avoid clampdown.
According to the report, all commercial banks, such as Ecobank Nigeria, First City Monument Bank Limited and Fidelity Bank Plc had since complied with the directive.
The paper quoted a top official of one of the tier-1 banks as saying that, “All our staff members, from the most junior to the most senior, were asked to declare their assets through a court affidavit. It was handled by the company’s lawyer.
“We were asked to declare all our assets, including developed and undeveloped parcels of land, properties, houses in Nigeria and outside Nigeria etc. We were asked to also declare everything, including power generators at home. We complied within one week.”
It was learnt that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission might soon begin the examination of the details of the assets declaration forms vis-à-vis the properties some top bankers own.