The probe came after the House Committee on Justice headed by Hon. Ali Ahmad (PDP-Kwara) adopted a petition from bank customers who thought the development could imperil the Central Bank of Nigeria's cashless economy policy if not checked. The petition, according to Ahmad, states in detail how customers have been going through hard times in carrying out electronic transactions due to malfunctioning ATMs.
"The petitioner narrated how he went through due process by making formal complaint of reporting the non-dispensing of his money while his account was debited.
"He resorted to the petition and the House of Representatives' intervention two months after the incident to curb further tactical manipulation of the banking system," Ahmed said.
The lawmaker noted that withholding customers' money for more than the stipulated period could not be condoned by parliament. The petition reads in part: "The banks would continue to indulge in this since there is no sanction to make banks responsible by ensuring that their ATMs are always in good condition.
"It may not be out of place that the trend might be deliberate, probably in a bid to use unsuspecting customer's money to ease their (banks') financial pressure. "This is because if all the incidences are recorded and the funds aggregated by all the banks, there is no doubt that we will be talking about millions of naira being deliberately denied customers while the banks are feeding fat on it.
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