By Modupe Gbadeyanka
In an effort to reduce insider fraud in the Nigerian banking system, the House of Representatives is proposing a 20-year jail term for fraudulent bank employees.
This is contained in a Bill for an Act to Amend the Bank Employees etc. (Declaration of Assets) Act, Cap. BI, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004; and for Related Matters, which passed second reading on Wednesday.
In the current act, bank workers involved in fraudulent activities risk but the lower chamber of the National Assembly wants this raised to 20 years.
According to Mr Francis Ejiroghene Waive, sponsor of the bill, fraudulent practices and other abuses in the banking sector have been on the increase in recent times.
He argued that the longer jail term would serve as a deterrent to employees planning to defraud customers or collude with others to achieve the same criminal aim.
The Speaker of the House, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, who presided over proceedings, referred the bill to the Committee on Banking and Currency soon after it passed the second reading.
The committee, in the next stage of the bill’s journey, will call for a public hearing and will, thereafter, report its collated views from the hearing to the chamber for further actions.
