Several Nigerian banks are grappling with the aftermath of a major system glitch that has exposed them to unauthorized withdrawals totaling a staggering N4,190,101,636 (over N4 billion).
The banks have approached the Federal High Court in Lagos, seeking judicial intervention to recover the stolen funds.
The massive loss stemmed from a glitch, which facilitated rogue transactions between September 6 and 9, 2024.
Due to the system malfunction, unauthorized transfers were executed to 176 accounts across 45 financial institutions, including some of Nigeria’s top banks.
In an affidavit filed before the court, Patience Johnson, a litigation officer at Manfield Solicitors, described the alarming sequence of events.
Johnson stated that the glitch was first detected on Monday, September 9, 2024, while reconciling weekend transactions. By that time, the unauthorized withdrawals had already created a financial exposure of N13,662,138,920 (over N13.6 billion).
Despite immediate efforts to notify the affected banks and place restrictions on the identified accounts, a significant portion of the funds was swiftly transferred to other unknown beneficiaries.
This resulted in a direct loss of N4,190,101,636. An additional N8,151,388,207.70 (over N8 billion) was traced to other accounts.
An alarm has since been raised – warning that without swift court action, the funds could be permanently lost.
The court is being urged to issue an order directing the respondents to impose Post No Debit (PND) restrictions on all implicated accounts to prevent further dissipation of funds.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been formally notified of the breach.
Wale Igbintade
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