CEM REPORT, FINANCE | The rate cybercrime especially in banks is moving up exponentially posing a risk to the banking industry. Banking professionals believe that the Nigerian judiciary is not fully equipped to treat financial and especially cybercrime cases.
To resolve this, Nigerian bankers have called for the creation of a specialized financial court to exclusively deal with commercial and financial cases as opposed to having divisions within the existing court structure.
Banking professionals opine that with rising financial technology and the dynamic nature of the financial sector, there was a need to set up special financial courts that would care specifically for financial matters.
Dr Ken Opara, President of CIBN, proposed at a programme organised by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in collaboration with the National Judicial Institute (NJI).
“We need to speed up cases. That is why we are canvassing for a commercial court. We have seen a lot of improvement, especially division and department in taking care of commercial cases. But we think much more needs to be done by setting up a special court for commercial and financial cases that will be able to take care of our financial matters.”
He stated that magistrate courts are illegally issuing bankers’ orders despite a series of judicial precedents while noting that there is also a need for the sector to work together to boost capacity otherwise the right judgment could remain elusive.
While it is true that the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) has a duty to reduce crime, Opara stated that the commission’s agents are unlawfully storming banks and ordering them to post no debits on their customers’ accounts in violation of the law’s protections for bank account confidentiality.
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“Traditionally, the application for a Garnishee specifies the third-party (garnishee) in the custody of the debtor’s assets to be attached. However, the prevalent practice continues to be for the judgment creditor to proceed against all banks (as garnishees) without first verifying the indebtedness of the bank to the judgment debtor.”
Opara noted that strong measures are required for cybersecurity as capital is being eroded due to gaps that exist globally.
