Asset Declaration: EFCC gives Banks’ MD, Executives June 30 final deadline

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has given over 120 managing directors and top executives of banks till the end of June to submit their asset declaration forms or face the consequences.

National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Employees (NUBIFIE) has however, called on the EFCC to extend the deadline.

Abdulrasheed Bawa, chairman, EFCC, had initially in March given top bankers, among others, till June 1, 2021, to declare their assets in line with the Bank Employees, ETC (Declaration of Assets) Act 1986, with defaulters said to risk 10 years in jail if found guilty by any Federal High Court.

But the anti-graft agency extended the deadline till June 14 to allow bankers to comply with the order effectively.

However, the EFCC chairman had sent a final reminder to all the affected banks executives and given them till the end of June to declare their assets.

According to the Bank Employees, ETC (Declaration of Assets) Act 1986, bankers should declare their assets through the appropriate authority like the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. But the forms were hardly ever scrutinised, a trend which the EFCC seeks to change.

Section 1 of the Act states, “Every employee of a bank shall, within fourteen days of the commencement of this Act, make a full disclosure of all his assets.

“In the case of a new employee, he shall within 14 days of assuming duty with the bank make a full disclosure of all his assets at the time of his assuming duty; and for the purpose of this subsection, a transfer or secondment from one bank to another shall be treated as a new employment.”

Section 2 of the Act reads, “The full disclosure of assets required under Section 1 of this Act shall be made in the manner prescribed in the Declaration of Assets Form contained in Form A of the Schedule to this Act and shall be executed before and attested to by the Registrar of a High Court, the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court.

“The President or the appropriate authority may from time to time prescribe such other forms as may be necessary to achieve the purpose and intendment of this Act.”

The Act in Section 5 states that the Chief Executive of every bank “shall twice in every year, but not later than 7 January, or 7 July, as the case may be, submit to the appropriate authority a list of all employees who joined or left the employment of the bank in the immediately preceding six months expiring respectively on 31 December of the previous year and 30 June of that year respectively.”

The Act explained that “Chief Executive” meant the chairman, the managing director or other similar officer of a bank, including the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Likewise, the Act defined “employee” or “employee of a bank” to include the governor (of the CBN), the chairman and members of the board, managing director, director, general manager, manager, examiner, inspector, controller, agent, supervisor, officer, clerk, cashier, messenger, cleaner, driver, and any other category of workers of the Central Bank, a bank or other financial institutions.

However,  Anthony Abakpa, president, NUBIFIE, stated that in view of the fact that court activities had yet to commence fully, top bank officials should be given more time to declare their assets.

Abakpa reiterated that an extension would enable the officials to meet the demands effectively.

He said, “As I told you earlier, basically, before someone attains a managerial position in a banking institution, it is mandatory that they must declare their assets at a point of entry.

“So, all of them have declared their assets through the EFCC, NBIC (Nigerian Bank for Commerce and Industry), and DSS (Department of State Services) before they came into the position.

“So I don’t think that it is a new thing. They have not been able to keep up with the deadline because the judiciary was on strike. I think they need more time to do it accurately.”