Reps probe banks, courts over funds of dead Nigerians

THE House of Representatives, yesterday, passed a resolution to probe delays usually encountered by relatives of deceased Nigerians while attempting  to have access to the funds of their departed loved ones.

In order to enable the House adequately address the situation, the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, directed  the Committees on Judiciary, Justice and Banking to convene a stakeholders' meeting  to find a way out of the situation which is believed to be very common.

Abiodun Abudu-Balogun, who sponsored the motion on the need to stop the pains, noted the trauma beneficiaries of such funds usually go through in their efforts to access their funds.

"It is high time Nigerians were saved from these harrowing experiences," Abudu-Balogun said.

He said while the process of obtaining letters of administration by such bereaved families at probate divisions of state and federal high courts was very cumbersome and corruption-ridden and banks that were



custodians of the funds often use "both official and unofficial hurdles to frustrate beneficiaries."

The lawmaker stated that unofficial statistics put the figures of such unaccessed funds with banks at between N400 billion and N1 trillion, adding that obtaining a single letter of administration usually lasted over a year.

Speaking in support of the motion, Mr. Peter Akpatason submitted that it was quite unfortunate that family members whose lives had been made miserable by death of their bread winners would be subjected to more pains by these undue bottlenecks.