By BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) said it has commenced payment of N588.7 million to depositors of 33 liquidated microfinance banks.

This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Head of Public Affairs, NDIC, Mallam Hadji Birchi. The statement said, “The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has commenced the verification and payment of insured deposits of 33 out of 83 microfinance banks (MFBs) whose licences were recently revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The first phase of the deposit pay-out of the 33 closed MFBs would cover total deposit liabilities of N588, 685,792.25 and each depositor would receive a maximum of N200, 000.

As part of the verification and payment exercise being undertaken by staff of the Corporation, affected depositors are to report to the last known addresses of their closed MFBs with evidence of account ownership including passbooks, cheque books and personal identification documents such as national identity cards, drivers licences and voters cards. “Depositors without valid identification documents are to obtain introduction letters with their photographs and the letters are duly signed by traditional rulers of their localities or local government chairmen.

The depositors are also requested to take along details of alternative bank accounts operated in any of the existing banks into which their insured claims could be paid while those without bank accounts have been asked to provide details of accounts of close relatives to which their payment could be made.

In a related development, the Corporation has commenced verification and payment of N125 million as first liquidation dividend of 50 kobo each to shareholders of the defunct Rims Merchant Bank at its Abuja and Lagos Offices and eight zonal offices nationwide.