By Atoyebi Nike
The House of Representatives has ordered chief executives of commercial banks to appear before an investigative panel probing alleged illegal and unexplained deductions from customers’ accounts.
The directive came on Tuesday from the House Ad-hoc Committee investigating tax deductions from civil and public servants’ earnings and other bank charges.
Committee Chairman Rep. Kelechi Nwogu accused banks of making unauthorized withdrawals through fees such as SMS alerts, account maintenance charges and transfer costs. He said many of the deductions were unclear, unjustified and not properly remitted.
Nwogu stressed that the committee aims to verify whether the charges imposed on customers are lawful, approved and accurately computed.
“Our mandate is clear. Every deduction must be legal, correctly calculated and properly utilized,” he said.
He warned that the panel would not accept representatives and insisted that CEOs must appear in person. The committee also invited the Ministry of Finance and is working with the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, the EFCC and all commercial banks involved.
Banks were given a four-day deadline to submit requested documents, with Nwogu warning that any institution that fails to comply by Monday would face sanctions.
